BYTE Vol 15 12 1990 11 Compaq Dazzling New Laptop

NOVEMBER 1990

A McGRAW-HILL PUBLICATION

Compaq's

DAZZLING

At Last: New Macs, Lower Prices

Everything a Deskpro 386/20
offers— in a 7 Vi -pound package

FPOFace-Olf
Intel vs. Four C

Lab Tests:
15 Hj^h-Capaci
I. S6s\ Drives

PWS: '
WingZ for Windows
Losing Glass vs. X.desktop
Canon's New Bubble- Jet Printer
ProFound vs. Imara
AST, Club American,

Everex 486/33S ^
SmartConnex ^
Poqet Portable

THE NEW DELL S\'STEM 433TE
33 MH: EISA i4S6.'"
• Inuel 304S6 microprocessor running ar

55 MH; with 12S KB externa! cache.
^^ommercial Lease Plan. Lease for
as Imv as S377/m(mth.
330 MB Super VGA Color System

(800 x 600) S10,499
Price listed includes 4 MB of RAM*
80, 100, 190, 330 and 650 MB hard drive
configurations av-ailable.

THE NEW DELL ffl'STEM 425TE
25 MH: EISA i486.
• Intel 804S6 microprocessor njnnina at
25 MH:.

Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as
loiv as S278!irwnth.

190 MB Super VGA Color System

(800 x 6CXi) 57,499
Price listed includes 4 MB of RAM.*
80, 100, 190, 330 and 650 MB hard drive
configurations available.

THE DELL SYSTEM 433E
33 MH: EISA i486.
• i486 microprocessor runnins at
33 MH:.

Commercioi Lease Plan. Lease for as
lotf as S307/month.

100 MB SuperVGA Color System

(800 x 600) 58,499
Price listed includes 4 MB of RAM.*
80, 100, 190, 330 and 650 MB hard drive
configurations available.

THE DELL Si'STEM425E-
25 MH: EISA i486.
• i486 microprocessor ninning at
25 MH:.

Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as

Imv as S235/month.

100 MB Super VGA Color Sysrem

(800 x 600) 56,499-
Price lisred includes 4 MB of R.AM.*
80, 100, 190, 330 and 650 MB hard drive
configurations available.

THE NEW DELL S^'STEM 325D
25MH:386.'"
• Intel 80386 microprocessor running at

25 MH: with 32 KB external cache.
ComTnercial Lease Plan. Lease for as
Iwe as SlWmonth.

40 MB VGA Color Plus System 52,999
Price listed includes 1 MB of R.AM.*
40, 80, 100, 190, 330 and 650 MB hard
drive configurations available.

THE DELL SYSTEM 316SX
16 MH: 386SX.
• Intel 80386SX microprocessor running

at 16 MH:.
Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as
Icnv as S79/month,

40 MB VGA Qilor Plus System 52,099

Price listed includes 1 MB of R-AM.*
20, 40, 80, kV and 190 MB hard drive
configurations a\ailable.

THE DELL S\'STEM 320LX
20 MH: 386SX.
• Intel 803S6SX micn:>processor runnins

at 20 MH:.
Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as
Ime as $l04/month.
40 -MB \'GA Color PlusSystem 52,799
Price listed includes 1 MB of RAM.*
40, 80, 100, 190, 330 and 650 MB hard
drive configurations available.

THE NEW DELL SYSTEM 320LT
20 MH: 386SX.
• Intel 80386 microprocessor running at
20 MH:.

CoTTunercioI Lease Plan. Lease for as
Imc as Sl4l^month.

40MB,2MBR.AM 53,899
20 MB hard drive configurations also
available.

THE DELL SYSTEM 210
12.5 MH: 286.
" Intel® 80286 microprocessor running

arl2.5MH:.
Comnierctol Lease Plan. Lease for as
lotv as S59/month.
20 MB VGA Monochrome

System 51,549
Price listed includes 1 MBof R.AM.*
20, 40, 80 and 100 MB hard drive
configurarions available.

THE DaL SYSTEM 316LT
16 MH: 386SX.
• Intel 80386SX microprocessor running

at 16 MH:.
Commercial Lease Plan. Lease for as
loii' as SI12.numlh.
20MB,1MBR.AM 52,999
40 MB hard drive configurations also
available.

The Deli System 433TE and 425TE are class A devices sold for use rncommertial environments onfy.Ta^omwixeEnlwcett^

ond 433TE] of memoiy a rewned fbr,ae by ln«sydam U eoly]ncepeifo<mance.C^nbe optwui/iisabledon 3330, 3250, 31 6SX and 210. AJ sysJems ore c*^^fophed v«*i op:tc«Td ewros. OeH confiC c« respcnsWe errofs fypcocp^iy O' F^'ogfoc^iy "Rrymefit bosed or 36-
month, cp«fi.endleose. Leosngorronged tjy LeosingGfOup,lnc.lnConodo,confguro:kjnsood pnces moy vofy. DELL SYSTEM so regfifered rrodefnori, DeJ, 425E ond SmonVu ore rrodemorks d Def Coir^Xrtef CofOrOtton. l^fei fi O regtiefSd TOdeniafk and 386, ^ ond rf95
ore tnadefnofl^s of Inid CofxyofOi. Oifief irodenrari^s and trode names ore used to deniry the enfnes cben,ng the moHts ond names ty ihe» pfcduCs Dell Computer CorpofotkyidraclotmsonypfopnstofvintefesttfittodemoHcs ond trodenomesotf^ettfran its own HOn-site serv^re
may not be ovoSoWe ffi cenoin remote locof«yis, Shpping, hcndlng ond oppJcoye soles toi not Wuded yitt» pnoe. For ffifonnotwn on ond o copy of C)eJi's30-[)oylc!o)SQtisfocticnGuQfontee. Im,ted ACronY ai%d XefOiS Se'%ice Contract, plecse 'o De: Computer Ccp^-otwn.
9505 Artorerum Bouteword. AuStm. feos 78759.7299. ATTN : V^orronty ffil9S0 [3dl Computer Corfworion, AS rights reserved

If all you're looking for is a cheap 386 " system,
you won't be disappointed. You'll get a cheap 386
system. Probably with marginal service. From
a company that was bom yesterday.

On the other hand, if
you want a 386 system from
a worldwide company that
provides instantaneous ser-
vice, and has won eight PC
Week Corporate Satisfac-
tion Polls for PCs, call Dell.

The clincher is, you'll
spend roughly the same for
a great Deir"386 PC as a
cheapo 386 PC.

Our new 386 systems even pull a fast one
on pricier computers. Both the 25 MHz Dell
System®325D and 33 MHz Dell System 333D are

faster and more ex-

GREAT COMPUTERS,
GREAT SERVICE,
GREAT REPUTATION,
GREAT PRICES.

$2,999 i

Lease: $112/lmo**j

$3,599

Lease: $130/ino.'

TO ORDER, CU-L

800'365'1480

HOURS: 6 AM-9 PM CT M-F 8 AM.4 PM cT SAT. highet priced systcms

pandable than most

In Canada 800-387-5752. In the U.K. CSCO 414535. In Franje
,I,3O.6O.68.0C.InC™nv«103,70I.0.In.^,d=n07«.7>350. ^^^g |g J^g

of RAM on the system board. Which keeps all
six slots free for expansion cards— enough for
even the most peripheral-happy people.

The new Dell 325D is a fast, reliable machine
with a 32 KB cache, LIM 4.0 hardware support,
an integrated 16-bit VGA controller that supports

up to 1024 x 768 resolution, password protec-
tion, a software controlled reset switch, and
a PS/2 compatible mouse port as standard
equipment. All of which is designed into a
compact footprint.

TTie Dell 333D is as good as a 386 PC can get.

THE NEW DELL SYSTEM 333D 33 MH: 386 AND THE
NEW DELL SYSTEM 325D 25 MH: 386-

STANDARD FE.ATLIRES:

• Intel* 80386 microprocessor ninntng ar
33 MH: (333D) or 25 MH: (3250)?

• Rage mode interleaved memor\- archirecrure.

• Standard 1 MB of RAM, optional 2 MB
or 4 MB of RAM» e>!pandable to 16 MB
on system board.

• Integrated VG.A conmjller with 1024 x 768
suppotT.

• 64 KB (333D) or 32 KB (325D) high-speed
SR.A.M.

• Socket for Intel S03S7 or WEITEK 3167
math coprocessor.

• 5.25" 1.2 MBor 3.5" 1.44 MB dLskere drive.

• 6 industn- standard expansion slots.

• High-performance IDE (40 MB, 80 MB,
100 MB, 190 MB) and ESDI (330 MB.
650 MB) hard disk drives.

• 1 parallel, 2 serial, PS/2 compatible mouse
port, all integrared.

• SmartWj — adv-anced s\'stems diagnostic
display.

• 12-month On-Site Senfce Contract
provided by -Xeroxr

40 MB VGA Color PliB
Sysrem

333D 325D
53,599 S2.999

I ADCODE11ELO I

Prices include 1 MBof RAM.

HERE'S OUR NEW STORE,
SO YOU'LL NEVER HAVE TO GO
TO THEIR STORE AGAIN.

$3,5*

Lease: $13(

i

When you buy from a traditional
computer store, here's what you get:
A beefy retail mark-up.
Pressure to buy something you
don't want.

That crummy feeling of not knowing
what you're getting, because the salesman
isn't sure what he's selling.

And, when there's a problem, some
guy with a screwdriver taking your
computer apart.

When you call Dell, on the other
hand, here's what you get:

A frank talk with experts about what
you need, and a recommendation about

the best

TO ORDER, CALL

800'365'1480

HOLTRS: 6 AM-9 PM CT M-F S AM-< PM CT SAT.

In CanaJa SC0-387O752. In the UK. OSCO 414535. In France
(I) 30.6O.6S.iO. In Gemanv 06I03/70I-0. In Suejen 0760.(13 50.

overall package
for you.
Custom

THE NEW DELL SYSTEiVl' 333D 33 MHz 386.

STANDARD FEATURES:

• Intel* 803S6 micropnxe&sor running at 35 MH:. • tcige mode intetleaved metTlor^■ architecture. • Standard 1MB at RA\I,
optional 2 MB oi 4 MB of RAM* expandable to 16 MB on s\'stem K?ard. • Integrated VGA controlter with 1024 x 768 suppott.
•64 KB high-speed SRAM. • Socket tbr Intel S0387 orWEITEK 3167 math coprocessors. • 5.25' 1.2 MB or 3.5" 1.44 MB
diskette dri\«. "6 industn' standard expansion slots (five 16-bit. one 8-bit). .High-f^tformarKe IDE (40 MB, 80 MB, ICO MB,
190 MB) and ESDI ( 330 MB, 650 MB) hard disk drives. • 1 parallel port. 2 serial potts, PS/2 compatible mouse port, all mregrated.
•SmaiT\ii'"-AdvarKed S\'stem Diagnostic Dispby. * I2-inonth On-Site Ser\-tce Contiact provided b\ Xeaix.-
40 MB VGA Color Plus S«tem 53,599

Pnce listed includes I MBof R.AM. 40, 80, 100, 190, 330, and 650 hanj drive conhgurarions

available.

I ADCODE11ELO I

configuration, with options including monitors,
memory sizes, software, accessories and peripherals.

Service — often voted the best in the industry
— by computer experts who know our computers
inside and out.

A variety of financing and leasing* options.

A firm promise to build your computers, a

configured systems test, and shipment by two-day
air standard.

A 30-day, no questions asked, money back
guarantee.

A one -year limited warranty.

And a great price, with no retail mark-up.

Call us now. Why waste a trip when everything
you need is right in front of you ?

GREAT PRICES.

your money, no questions asked.

Even if something goes tvrong, it tuon't
tvreck your day. Both the Dell 325D and 333D
come with the built-in Smart Vu™ diagnostic

display, an ingenious device
that identifies problems
even if the monitor goes
down.

If you need help, the Dell
toll-free technical hotline
solves 90% of all problems

FOR DOLUR, WE SMOKE THE Gi

ft
f

"frTW SYSTEMS m/^JfnUS T( overthe phone, often within

m^.^. / ^V^SeJ^

TeIcB."'?"!" compare

r^S? 4 or 5 minutes.

Not only is it 33% faster than the Dell 325D,
it also has a 64 KB RAM cache for an extra kick
in performance.

We design every machine to our specs, then
build it to yours. When you call us, we take
you through all the choices you have in memory
sizes, monitors, storage devices, high perform-
ance controllers and accessories. We'll help you
decide exactly what you need, then custom
build your computer and do a fully configured
system test before we send it out.

Then you get 30 days to use it. If you aren't
completely satisfied, send it back. We'll return

Circle 103 on Reader Service Card

If we can't solve it
over the phone, a trained
technician fi:om Xerox will be sent to your
desk the next business day with the solution
in hand^

For sale, for leased for less. Call us. Talk
to a computer expert whose only job is to give
you exactly what you want in computers,
service, software, printers and financing. You'll
get solid information that could save you time
and money.

Call us now. YouW get a great computer.
With no "uhs" about it.

DELL

COMPUTER

CORPORATION

Rip Your £om|
-^Shreds

33-MHz 386DX-,
EISA...$1995

The ALR
BusinessVEISA

See us at

@CO)mP«/Fall'90

Booth #1886, Main Hall

It's What You Need
to Thrive in Today's
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It's a sink or swim world out
there, and if you don't take
advantage of the latest in today's
technology, your competition will.
To survive in a sea of reduced
budgets and accelerated time
schedules, you need a computer
that's both inexpensive and fast.
You need a system that will
exploit the best of today's and
tomorrow's technology without
exploiting your budget. You
need the ALR BusinessVEISA.

One of the easiest ways for your
company to remain competitive
is to reduce its spending: that's
why we've priced the
Business'VT;iSA Model 101 at
just $1995. "With its 33-MHz
386-processor and its advanced
32-bit EISA bus, the
BusinessVEISA gives you all the
power you'll need to devour
today's most advanced business
applications.

Designed to survive the chang-
ing tides of your business envi-
ronment, the BusinessVEISA
can take advantage of both
standard 8- and 16-bit add-on
boards and advanced 32-bit
EISA enhancement products.
This powerful system can feast
on the latest in today's and
tomorrow's high-speed I/O and
multimastering technology.

As you conquer new territories,
your BusinessVEISA can
expand its jaws to accommo-
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the CPU! "'Simply plug in an
ALR VEISA 25 or 33-MHz i486
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watch your competition scatter.

Don't ignore your killer instinct.
Call ALR today.

1-800-444-4ALR

Hunt for the Real 32-bit System

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AST-

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386'33-101

386SX/16-5V

Architecture

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CUPID-32?->.

CPU Speed

16-MHz \

CPU

386DXi^

386SX j\

Data Path

32-Biti/

16-8it

Memory

1-MB

1-MB y

Bus

32-Bit EISA>^

16-Bit iSA

List Price

$1995

S2495

Price of 25-MHz

i486 Upgrade

SI 995

S4895

Just upgrade the CPU! ™

ALR \-ElSA 25-MHz i486 CPU Module
ALR VEISA 33 MHz 386 CPU Module 33 MHz i486 CPU Module

<siem Board

9401 Jeronimo, Ir\1ne. CA 92718
(714) 581-6770 FAX: (714) 581-9240

Available at these selected resellers:

Connecting Point MMM fe|||)y^ ^^^CBC

COMPUTER CENTERS ^^^MSOm

Prices and configurations subject to change without notice. Prices based on U.S. dollars. System shown with optional monitor/graphics adapter and 3.5" floppy. VBISA,
BusinessVEISA, and Just Upgrade the CPU! are trademarks and ALR is a registered trademark of Advanced Logic Research. Inc. All other brand and product names are
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Shark photo; Ron Taylor/ Tom Stack & Assoc. £1990 by Advanced Logic Research.
AST, we saw your mailer. Would you like some of our product literature so you can get your information right next time?

Circle 17 on Reader ServUe Card (RESELLERS: 18)

Contents

November 1990
Volume 15, Number 12

COVER STORY

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Compaq Notebook
Ups the Ante

PAGE 140

46

132

The LTE 386s/20
is the high-performance
notebook PC to beat.

NEWS

19 MICROBYTES

"MISC," a new minimalist
microprocessor architecture, promises
faster systems that can emulate other
processor architectures.

WHAT'S NEW

This month's product selections include
GRiD's Isopoint laptop, entry-level
multimedia software from MacroMind,
a Mac scanner from HSD, and more.

FIRST

IMPRESSIONS

Ventura Publisher, Macintosh
Edition 1.0, for a mixed-machine
environment

ScanMan 256, Logitech 's scanner
for Windows 3.0

NewWave 3.0, an updated version
from Hewlett-Packard

WinSleuth, Dariana 's new
diagnostics package

WordPerfect Rhymer, /or the student
of the sound of language

BYTE (ISSN 0360-5280/90) is published monlhiy with an additional issue
in October by McGraw-Hill, Inc. U.S. subscriber rate S29.95 per year In
Canada and Mexico, $34.95 per year. Single copies $3.50 in trie U.S.
$4.50 in Canada. Executive, Editorial, Circulation, and Advertising Of-
fices; One Phoenix Mil! Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Second-dass
postage paid at Peterborough, NH, and additional mailing offices. Post-
age paid at Winnipeg, f^nitoba. Registration number 9321 . Printed in the
United States of America. Postmastaf: Send address changes, USPS
Form 3579, and fulfillrhent questions to BYTE Subscriptions, P-0 Box
551 . Hightstown, NJ 08520.

146 The New Macs on the Block

At last, lower prices — and a new design.

156 A New Status Quo for Quattro
Borland adds 3-D graphics to its
spreadsheet.

162 TheALRMPS:

Modular Micro Channel

ALR gambles that it can take a bite out
of the True Blue market.

165 Fast New Systems from NeXT
Faster machines with lower prices
and the long-sought floppy disk drive
have arrived.

REVIEWS

172 PRODUCT FOCUS:
Massive Storage
for Multiple Platforms

The BYTE Lab puts 15 high-capacity
hard disk drives to the test across four
operating systems: DOS, Unix, NetWare
386, and the Mac OS.

190 High-Performance 486 ATs

The great performance of three
33-MHz 486s shows there's still life
in the old AT bus.

194 FPU Face-Off

Not all FPUs are created equal.
The BYTE Lab shows performance
differences among FPUs from AMD,
Cyrix, IIT, Intel, and Weitek.

205 New Controller Makes
SCSI Palatable to PCs

Distributed Processing Technology's
SmartConnex/ISA hides SCSI's
incompatibility from PCs.

221 Windows Takes On WingZ

Informix's graphical spreadsheet puts
Windows 3.0 through its paces.

227 Mac-ish Interfaces for Unix

Looking Glass and X. desktop provide
point-and-click ease of use to Unix.

235 New Bubble- Jet Outpaces Portable
Printers

Canon's new portable printer bubbles
over with sharp resolution and
flexibility.

239 A Poqet Full of Power

It's small. It's innovative. But is it
practical? Wayne Rash Jr. takes the
Poqet PC on the road.

245 One-Size-Fits-All Code with Lattice C

A royalty-free DOS extender is standard
with Lattice's new C compiler.

251 Document Management
on Networked PCs

Imara and Propound offer two
approaches to keeping track
of documents.

258 Small, Low-Cost UPSes

Small and inexpensive backup power
systems make reliable power
an individual choice.

262 TravelMate 2000 Lives Up to Its Name

Texas Instruments puts AT-class power
in a 4-pound package.

266 Pricey Hard Disk Drive Portability

The Disctec 20 provides floppy disk
convenience with hard disk storage
in a very small package.

268 Reviewer's Notebook

A new ALR PowerFlex model, and
hard disk confusion at Micro Express.

STATE OF THE ART

272 MAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL
Introduction

275 State of the Media

A look at the conflict between
traditional magnetic mass storage
devices and optical technologies.

283 Crystal Clear Storage

The holostore, a new mass stoi-age
device with supercomputer
performance, could eliminate the I/O
bottleneck.

4 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY: PAUL AVIS © 1990

289 Entering a New Phase

Optical and magnetic are at opposite
ends of the spectrum. Can phase-change
technology bridge the gap?

301 The Once and Future King

Hard disk technology will be your
primary computer storage medium
for years to come.

304

311

323

331

338

Side by Side

You can store more data on

a floppy disk if you can get the bits

to stand up straight.

Store Data in a Flash

The flash-memory disk offers a fast
and rugged replacement for both hard
and floppy disk drives.

DAT's a Solution

Digital-audiotape technology comes
of age.

Getting Your Byte's Worth

Hardware-based data compression gives
you more bang for your QIC, DAT, and
hard disk buck.

Masses of Storage

A guide to companies that provide mass
storage solutions.

FEATURES

342 Chips for the Nineties and Beyond

New chips may make for higher-
performance and unconventional ways
of computing.

353 Modem Business

Confused by modem standards like
212A, V.22, and V.32bis? Here's help.

364 A Knowledge Engineering Toolkit,
Part 2

The discussion continues, with a look
at backward and forward chaining.

373 Hot Links to Go

A look at Windows' and OS/2's
Dynamic Data Exchange facility.

381 Alternative Operating
Systems, Part 4:
Pick: OS or DBMS?

What do you get when you build an
operating system around a database?

385 Modula-3

An introduction to the OOP language
that grew from Pascal and Modula-2.

EXPERT ADVICE

73

COMPUTING
AT CHAOS MANOR
Multimedia Video

by Jerry Poumelle
Jerry looks at multimedia
video boards, a new Modula-2,
and assorted gadgets.

89

DOWN TO BUSINESS
The Growth of Groupware

by Wayne Rash Jr.
Wayne addresses groupware
and how to determine what
capabilities your company needs.

Magnetic vs. Optical/272

HANDS ON

395 UNDER THE HOOD
The Mouse that Roared

The history, anatomy, and physiology
of the desktop mouse.

403 SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED
Talking Tasks, Part 2
Introducing the most common methods
of interprocess communications
for Unix and OS/2.

DEPARTMENTS

97

NETWORKS
Hard Choices for Network Managers

by Mark L. Van Name
and Bill Catchings
You can't always wait for the
perfect network management solution.

107

MACINATIONS
Working with Windows 3.0 and a Mac

by Don Crabb
Don presents the Mac/Windows
3.0 user's interoperability
survival guide.

6 Spotlight

Jerry Pournelle: 10 years
with BYTE and counting

10 Editorial: Laptop Troubles
and Triumphs

33 Letters, Ask BYTE, and Fixes

Readers find self-realization.

PERSPECTIVES

465 CHAOS MANOR MAIL

466 PRINT QUEUE
Stomping the Nasties

Professor Kenner examines a new
volume by computer virus hunter
John McAfee.

468 STOP BIT

Promises, Promises

A lawyer looks at the warranties-
real and implied— that come with
computer equipment.

119

THE UNIX /bin
Not Quite Unix

by David Fiedler
The tribulations and treats
of using a SlOO Unix clone.

127

BEYOND DOS:
WINDOWS AND OS/2
Tales from the Trenches

by Steve Mastrianni
An OS/2 device-driver specialist
talks shop.

READER SERVICE

454 Editorial Index by Company
456 Alphabetical Index to Advertisers
458 Index to Advertisers
by Product Category
Inquiry Reply Cards: after 460

PROGRAM LISTINGS

FromBYTEnet: Call (617) 861-9764

NOVEMBER 1990 - BYTE 5

Circle 49 on Reader Service Card

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H

Jerry Pournelle:
10 Years
AND Counting

There 's a lot more to
BYTE 's senior contributing
editor than just his column

He's been called "the world's
most popular computer colum-
nist," and with justification.
Jerry Pournelle' s columns ap-
pear in dozens of countries, both in En-
glish and in a variety of other languages.
He has fans from Michigan to Moscow,
from Kokomo to Kyoto.

As a BYTE reader, you probably al-
ready know why: For the last 10 years,
Jerry's blend of hands-on, first-person
experience with every conceivable kind
of hardware and software has provided
some of the most entertaining and infor-
mative pages in BYTE each month.

But there's a lot more to Jerry than his
column. You've probably either read or
heard of a number of Jerry's best-selling
books (written alone or in collaboration
with Larry Niven and others), including
The Legacy ofHeorot, Footfall, Oath of
Fealty, Lucifer's Hammer, The Mote in
God's Eye, and many others. Jerry's list
of published works would more than fill
the space we have here; over 20 books
are still in print.

A native of Shreveport, Louisiana,
Jerry earned a B.S. in psychology and

mathematics, an M.S. in experimental
statistics and systems engineering, and
two Ph.Ds: one in psychology, the other
in political science.

With that broad a background, it's eas-
ier to understand how Jerry has ended up
employed by agencies as varied as the
City of Los Angeles, Pepperdine Univer-
sity, the U.S. Air Force, North Ameri-
can Rockwell Corp. , and Boeing Aero-
space Corp. What's harder to understand
is how he did it while still developing a
world-class writing career.

But wait, there's more: Jerry's also
made time to chair the Citizen's Adviso-
ry Council on National Space Policy, and
to be a consultant to the trustees of the
California State Universities; a member
of the Board of Visitors, Department of
Mathematics, University of Texas; and a
member of the advisory board, Lowell
Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona.

Jerry was one of the first authors to use
a computer for writing both fiction and
nonfiction (see "Writing with a Micro-
computer," onComputing, Summer
1979). His work began appearing in
BYTE just one year later.

We're pleased to be able to bring you a
writer of Jerry's caliber each month. If
you're already a fan, watch for some in-
teresting, positive changes in the column
over the next few months, as we usher in
Jerry's second decade with BYTE. If
you're not reading Jerry, do yourself a
favor: Check out this month's column. ■

6 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

New FoxPro

Shifting the Balance Of Power in Database Management

There's a new leader in the relational database manage-
ment world. Its name is FoxPro.

FoxPro is the first and only microcomputer database
management system that combines astonishing per-
formance with a sleek interface of amazing power and
beauty.

■ FoxPro offers all the elegance and accessibility of a
graphic-style interface, yet operates at the stunning
speeds possible only with character interfaces.

■ FoxPro is so easy to learn and use. even beginners
can become productive immediately; yet it's powerful
and sophisticated enough to satisfy the needs of the most demanding
developers and power-users.

■ FoxPro gives you choices instead of limits: use a mouse or a
keyboard; type commands or use the object-oriented interface; run in
one window, or hundreds.

■ FoxPro is so efficient, it runs in a 512K PC-XT. yet it's able to take
advantage of the speed, expanded memory and extended video
modes of the most advanced machines available. You don't even need
a graphics card or special windowing software.

FoxPro

Nothing is Faster

Fox Software products are famous for their
unmatched execution speed. FoxPro extends that
tradition.

FoxPro is up to eight times faster than dBASE IV —
more than 15 times faster than dBASE III PLUS!

And that blazing speed translates into unprecedented
power. Now you can efficiently process gigantic
databases with hundreds of thousands — even
millions — of records.

Protecting Your Investment

With FoxPro, your existing FoxBASE-l- or dBASE III PLUS pro-
grams will run perfectly — first time, every time, no excuses. And
FoxPro is language-compatible with dBASE IV. But FoxPro doesn't
stop there. It has over 140 language enhancements not found in any
version of dBASE. We've outdone oursehes by adding more than
200 language extensions you won't find in FoxBASE+ .

Best of all. FoxPro opens up whole new worlds for your applications
by letting you move them onto a variety of different platforms.

The Tradition Continues

Fox Software is committed to
excellence— our products prove it.

We've been producing superb database
management software since 1983. And
our products for both the PC and the
Macintosh continue to win awards
worldwide.

We've taken everything we know about
software engineering, databases and
interface design, and focused it into
one remarkable product— FoxPro.

FREE Demo Disk

Shift the balance of power in your favor
by trying FoxPro for yourself.

Call (419) 874-0162 now to get your
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Nothing Runs Like The Fox.

System Requirements: Fti.xPnt operates in
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or S03S6 tnicroproees.sor. For optimum per-
formance , Fo.\-Pro takes complete advaniuiie of
any availalile EMS (expanded memory) or a
matii coprocessor

Trademarks Owner: Fo.\'Pro. Fo.\B.ASE^/Fo.\'
Software: dB.ASE III PLCS. dB.ASE IV/
.Asliton-Taie.

FOX Software

.\othing Runs Like The Fox.

Fox Soflware. hic. (419) S74-()I62
134 W. South Boiindarv f\\; (4|9) s^4-,S67S
Perrysburg. Ohio 4.i.^.i'l Telex: 6.^0.3040827 FOX

Circle 141 on Reader Service Card

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Business practice-
not teclinology— is now
the impediment

I love laptops. Given enough funds,
I'd go for laptops the way Imelda
Marcos went for shoes.
The list of portables I've owned
or used stretches back to the days when
(figuratively speaking) computers were
made out of animal bones and plant
fiber. In fact, before there were por-
tables, I routinely went on the road with
an Atari 800, two external floppy disk
drives, an acoustic coupler, a dictionary-
size "interface box," and a shopping bag
full of cables and brick-size power sup-
plies. I had more than one chat with hotel
security when maids panicked at the
sight of the wires and boxes covering a
room's spare bed.

A Winner

Things got simpler with the first true
portables and then, some years later,
with the first laptop— the Tandy Model
100. 1 still have my original MlOO, and I
use it on trips where I am unwilling to
risk loss or damage to more recent equip-
ment, or where power supplies are a
problem.

Other Contenders

I've had other memorable machines, too.
The almost-compatible DataVue, for ex-
ample, stands out because it kept me up
and running during the power outages of
hurricane Gloria some years back. But
the DataVue' s idiosyncrasies meant that
I couldn't telecommunicate the work I'd
done, thus negating one of the prime rea-
sons for having a laptop.

Also-Rans

Way back when, I had a brief flirtation
with the almost-legible DG One, but I

EDITORIAL ■ Fred Langa

LAPTOP Troubles
AND Triumphs

decided that I really needed to be able
to see what I was working on. Very re-
cently, I tried lugging a 12-pound VGA
laptop, but decided my arms were al-
ready long enough. Other machines had
great screens but nonstandard micro-
floppy disks, or powerful CPUs but pric-
ey ROM-card software.

Still other laptops seemed great in
office settings, but they turned out to be
useless on planes unless the person in
front of me sat perfectly upright— if he or
she tilted the seat back, it would fold the
computer's screen shut. Palmtops were
either too tiny to type on or too limited in
use to fully replace a "real" computer,
even though they may excel at replacing
paper-based pocket diaries, agenda
booklets, and to-do lists. (And "excel"
they do: A pocket computer such as the
Sharp Wizard can be a perfect accompa-
niment to a full-blown portable.)

No More Compromises

This theme— having to make substantial
compromises when computing outside a
traditional office setting— has been con-
stant. Until now.

Starting late last year, laptops shed
their last real technological hurdles.
Smaller than ever, lighter than ever,
faster than ever, today's laptops (yes, I'm
including the subclasses of notebook and
palmtop computers) now truly can offer
full-function portable computing with
very few compromises. (Check out the
cover story on the Compaq 386s/20 and
this month's review of the Texas Instru-
ments TravelMate.)

But there's still one persistent catch. If
the new crop of laptops is making you
think of taking the plunge, it's some-
thing you should be aware of.

It's human behavior— specifically, of-
fice decorum and the etiquette of busi-
ness meetings. Take notes on a piece of
paper, for example, and no one cares;
take notes on a laptop, and the novelty of
it can cause a commotion; the mere act of
computerized note taking can pull a

meeting off track— your use of a portable
computer actually decreases productiv-
ity instead of increasing it.

If you are making a presentation, there
is a similar problem: Speak from notes,
and your audience will listen to your
message— but refer to notes on a laptop
screen, and for a few minutes, at least
some in your audience will pay more at-
tention to how you're delivering your
message than to the message itself.
That's a sure way to torpedo a presen-
tation.

While those can be serious problems,
there are smaller snags, too: Working on
a plane, if you write a memo in longhand,
your concentration will be undisturbed.
Try typing on a laptop, and you can ex-
pect friendly interruptions ("Hey! What
is that?") from your seatmate and from
people walking by in the aisle.

Problems Become Moot

Of course, handwritten notes always can
be rekeyed later. A speech given from
note cards may well be better than one
delivered from a laptop, because you'll
be able to walk around instead of being
tied to a podium. And answering the
questions of curious airline seatmates
helps spread the word about computers
and introduces a new set of users to these
amazing machines.

As more laptops move out into the
world, the curiosity factor will diminish,
and computers will become as accepted
in boardrooms, on podiums, and in pub-
lic transport as they now are on desktops.
But for now, the relative novelty means
there will be some inconvenience, and
you may not immediately get all the time
and productivity gains you hope for.

Personally, I think it's a small price to
pay for the huge gains that are to be had. I
can't imagine traveling without a lap-
top—and once you've tried one of today's
slick new machines, neither will you.

—Fred Langa
Editor in Chief
(BIX name "f langa")

10 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Limited time offer to owners of IVIicrosoft C

Borland's Turbo C'' Professional
"Everything you always wanted
in a C compiler and more

Reprinted from PC Magazine, August 1990

- mmunicaiions Company
-rrrrtfivMirtirrrinii'iirnfiiiiii'yiMi

Special upgrade offer for
Microsoft^C owners!

Are you ready for an upgrade that
conforms 100% to ANSI C, gives you
C+-r, doesn't skimp on documentation,
features a fast, reliable programming
environment, and provides the com-
plete toolset necessary to maximize
your productivity? Then it's time to
make the move to Borland.

And the time to move is now.
We're offering Turbo C++ Professional
to owners of Microsoft C or any
PC -based C or C++ compiler for
only $14995.*

Compare the features.

c

OMPILER

MSC6.0

TC++Pro

c

++

NO

YES

Full ANSI C

NO

YES

Transparent overlay
manager

NO

YES

Complete printed
documentation

NO

YES

E

Overlapping windows

NO

YES

Mouse support

YES

Ir

t^ated deb

jgging

NO

YES

TOOLS

D

ebu^er

YES

YES

Profiler

NO

YES

Macro assembler

NO

YES

Turbo C++ Professional
beats Microsoft C 6.0.

125.63

String
! ■ 5.33

'■ 5.35

IMoth
1 1 4.34
I 3.92

Files

24.03
24.03

56.22

ITC++ Pro
I MSG 6.0

30.59
34.03
40.82
48.69

Source:
PClABs
Benchmarks
August, 1990

Performance resulfs:

.EXE size given in idhbyfes, speed given in seconds.

Using a 16Mkz 386. HIMEM driver and KWS 3.3. Hord diil omJ RAM
disk opiimized befween 'esTs: co*i!piied bendimori pfogroms njfi from iiAM
disk. Each compiief was optimized for speed.

"... if you want an excellent ANSI
compiler with integrated environ-
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assembler, and an award-winning
debugger-not to mention C and C++
support— look no further: Turbo C++
Professional is here."

-PC Magazine, August 1990

Step up now to
Turbo C++ Professional
for only $14995

That's half the suggested retail
price of $29995.

If you're not convinced that
Turbo C+- Professional is the best
upgrade to Microsoft C 5.1, just
return the product for a full refund.

To order
SEE YOUR DEALER

(bring proof of ownership)

or call now
1 (800) 331-0877

TURBO C ++

■

PROFESSIONAL

IHt»SriUfK>0«BG?DC-t
reOM THE lEAOe IN MjEa-OKNTn) PTOGIAMMING

TURBO C**

PROfESSIONAL

a 0 R I A N B

BORLAND

Makers of Turbo C"-, Turbo Pascal,* Paradox,* Quattro*Pro and Sidekick*

Code: MC13

'Prool ol ownership |an origifial manual page or disk trom any version) is required Ofler expires Decerrte 31. 1990 Offer good n U.S. arxl Canada only. Special discounts for registered TufDo^ C owneis are avaiialiie trom Borland. Uai! orders to.
Borland inlerrraiionai. inc . P 0. Box 660001 , Scotls \ftiiey. CA 95067-0001 . Add S5.00 for shipping and handling ResiOenls in CA. CT. GA. IL. MA. Ml. NY, OH. PA TX. VA and WA please add appropriate sales tix. For ordets outside the U.S..
call (408) 438-5300 Turtw C++ and Turbo Language are irademarks of Borland Inlefnalional. mc. Copyright ©1990 Borland Inlernational. Ix All rights resen/ed Bl 1382

Circle 53 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 54)

Fly in bigger skies.

The 16" Multisync J,D and 20" oD monitors.
Our largest high-resolution color monitors. Digitally controlled, the J,D supports VGA through 10-2J, x 768. the oD, up to 1280 x 102J,.

It's a matter of space. And pace.

Your ideas could use as much of both as they can get. Which is why
you should consider upgrading to one of our larger MultiSync' moni-
tors. Then you can add the best graphics accelerator you can find. The
MultiSync Graphics Engine" Board, to name one prime example.

Together, they'll increase your system's productivity immensely, by
CsC

Computers and Communications

On afterburner.

The Multisync Graphics Engine Board. Uses 50MHz TMS 31010 graphics processor to accelerate software applications as much as 900%.

allowing you to put far more information on your screen, far faster.
We're talking more windows. More words. More detail.
Above all, more speed.

Interested? Call 1-800-FONE-NEC for technical information. Or
1-800-826-2255 for literature. In Canada, 1-800-268-3997. We'll show
you how to give your productivity a major boost.

Circle 254 on Reader Service Card

BVTE

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Frederic S. Langa

PUBLISHER

Ronald W. Evans

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Anne Fischer Lent

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Chief Executive Officer; Robert N. Landes,
Executive Vice President, General Counsel
and Secretary; Walter D. Serwatka,
Executive Vice President; Frank D.
Penglase, Senior Vice President, Treasury
Operations; Robert J. Bahash, Executive
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer;
Thomas J. Sullivan, Executive Vice
President, Administration; Mary A. Cooper,
Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs,
and Executive Assistant to the Chairman;
Ralph R. Schuiz, Senior Vice President,
Editorial.

Founder: James H. McGraw(1860-1948).

J Copyright © 1990 by McGraw-Hill,
PSlI '"'^^ "S'^'^ reserved. BYTE and
' BVIl are registered trademarks of
McGraw-Hill, Inc. Trademark registered in
the United States Patent and Trademark
Office.

Member

Audit Bureau of Circulation

14 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Introducing the PanaSync C1381 Monitor.

85t^Arcsolutioa
VGA pice.

If you want the ultimate VGA graphics standard, and you've resigned yourself to pa\ing a premium of hundreds of
dollars to get it, you'll find our newest monitor pleasant viewing indeed.

The PanaSync C1381 gives you a sharp 1024 x 768 pixels, with 0.28 dot pitch. And virtually infinite color resolution.

It's compatible with the most popular VGA boards, as well as analog RGB, MCGA, SuperVGA and— of course — 8514/A
standards,*

It's comfortable in virtually any IBM -compatible or Mac II environment.**

And it's a masterpiece of ergonomics. 'With fi-ont-mounted controls, tilt/swivel stand, plus a non-glare tinted black-
matrix screen.

All this at a suggested retail price comparable to many
of the ordinary VGA monitors on the market right now. For
more information, simply call toll-free 1-800-742-8086.

PanaPro™ Monochrome Desktop Publishing Monitors with Video Adapters.

Peripherals, Computers, Printers,
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C1391 II C1381

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M3-1

(IBM XT/AT & PS/2 Model 30)

Circle 276 on Reader Service Card

' VGA. MCGA and 85M/A are trade-
marks of/ntemational Business
Machines Corp.

• I BM XT . V and PS/2 are registered
trademarks of International Business
.Machines Corp. .Macintosh is a reg-
istered trademark of Apple Computer
Inc. An optional cable is required
for .Macintosh.

Doift look now, but

moving on

Suddenly, IBM Personal System/2®s with
Micro Channel™ on desks everywhere are exhib
iting some pretty wild and
wonderful tendencies. They're
creating incredible on-screen
presentations. Interactive tu-
torials with full-motion video
and stereo sound. Graphics,
text and animation in har-
monious coexistence. What
makes it all possible is the
multimedia capability of the
IBM PS/2®with Micro Channel.

the new IBM CD-ROM that gives you the
storage equivalent of over 400 diskettes on

Micro Channel
Makes It Look Easy

The PS/2 itself is
designed to put multimedia
applications to their best use.
Micro Channel has always
given the PS/2 extremely fast
data rates and better
multitasking capabil-
ities. But in multimedia
applications, it really gets
a chance to shine.
The multilane highway
design of Micro Channel
Architecture is perfect for
processing complex multi-
media applications.
Most conventional
PCs just don't have
the power or the
data paths to do it at
all. Plus, Micro Channel
in the PS/2 lets you use

iiiiiiffl!!

iiiiuiiiiiiiiii"'"

there's something
your desk.

a single CD, so you can have access to all kinds
of data -intensive material like clip art and dig-
ital stereo sound.

Do It All. All At Once.

With a PS/2 with Micro Channel, you can
start using some hot products right now. One
is IBM's Audio Visual ConnectionT It's both a
software and a hardware tool that allows your
PS/2 to import high-quality audio, dazzling
still images, even special effects, as well as text,
graphics and other
data. Then, you can
edit and present it in
any combination you
like right on your
PS/2 screen, share it
with a network or pro-
ject it on a wall. It's impressive, but don't take
our word for it — IBM's Audio Visual Connec-
tion received PC Magazines Technical
Excellence Award for 1989.

Another exciting multimedia product
is die IBM M-Motion Video Adapter/A:
Coupled with the power of Micro Channel, it
lets you incorporate full-motion video and
high-quality sound from sources like video
disks, VCRs and video cameras, digitize them,
and display them in an endless array of formats.
And for software developers, there are
ActionMedia™ cards, a collaborative
effort between IBM and Intel.
ActionMedia cards use the
latest DVI™ Technology,
which allows full-
motion video and
analog sound

IBM. Personal System/2 and PS/2 are registered trademarks and Micro Channel, Audio Visual Conneaion and
M-Mdion Video Adapter I A are tracJemarks of International Business Machines Corporation. DVI and ActionMedia
are trademarks of Intel Corp. © 1990 IBM Corp.

to be compressed, digitized,
stored on a hard or optical
disk and played back in real
time, with incredibly sharp
resolution.

YOU'VE Already Got The Best Seat
In The House.

Best of all, you can do it all today with
the Micro Channel PS/2s you've already got.
No special monitors to buv. And you'll be
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multimedia technology, like interactive
touch displays and much more.

Contact your IBM Authorized Dealer
or IBM marketing representative. For a
free demonstration videocassette or a dealer
near you, call 1 800 255-0426, ext. 20.

Your desk will never be the same.

For a free PS/2 Multi.Media demonstration
videocassette call 1 800 255-0426. ext. 20
or send diis completed coupon to: IBM Corporation
P.O. Box 92835, Rochester, NY 14692

Name

Title Phone

Company-
Address

1 City-

-State-

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□ If vou are a software developer, check here.

How re you
going to do it?

PS/2 it!

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T.I

MAGAZINE

The Right Decision

The 486 Champ

..THIS COMPUTER DESERVES YOUR ATTENTION.'

On the September 11,1 990, 24 of
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Once again the choice is clear. If you
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PC MAGAZINE - September 11, 1990

"...probably lias the best mix of support,
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all the computers in this review. "
PC MAGAZINE -july, 1990

"Support Policies - Excellent. "
INFOWORLD - MAY 7, 1990

Flash Cache
486/25
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Complete with Inters 80486 CPU, 64K RAM Cache,
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Flash Cache
386/33

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Flash Cache
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$2995

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20" HrrACHi Monitor
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PC MAGAZINE

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OMPUTER corpora!

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Monday - Friday 7:00am-7:00pm MST
Saturday 9:00am-4:00pm MST

MiCROBYTES

Research news and industry developments shaping the world of desktop computing

Edited by D. Barker

Minimalist Architecture Promises Speed, Chips That Can IVIimic Others

Anew minimalist microprocessor
architecture being developed by
Teraplex (Champaign, IL) could lead to
systems that not only are faster but can
emulate other processor architectures as
well. Teraplex" s Minimum Instruction
Set Computer design uses, as its name
implies, the minimum number of
instructions possible to build a basic
computer architecture. MISC uses long
instruction words to fetch more than one
operand at a time, and, according to
Teraplex officials, it processes data
significantly faster than most current

desktop computers.

Perhaps an even greater benefit than
speed is the MISC chip's ability to
imitate other processors by mimicking
their instructions with combinations of
its own. Because of its high speed, the
processor can do this quickly enough to
attain very good performance, the
designers say. According to Teraplex
staffers, they've built systems that can
directly execute MS-DOS programs at
about 4'/: times the speed of a 386-
based machine running at 33 MHz.

The instructions used in the MISC

system are as basic as possible (e.g.,
add, multiply, logic shift, escape, and
trap). MISC handles instructions that
are common on current microproces-
sors, such as move, by reading a data
operand, shifting it by 0, and storing it
to the instruction-fetch register. The
design also uses a novel approach to
floating-point operations: It fetches the
numbers, unpacks them into exponent
and mantissa, ahgns them, passes them
through the integer unit, and then
realigns and repacks them. Teraplex
president Philip McKinney says that this

Put away those 3-D glasses. Texas
Instruments has prototyped a laser-
based display system for projecting
three-dimensional images that can be
viewed from any angle. As in real life,
the visual perspective of the image
changes with the viewing angle. Don
Williams, a development engineer at
TI's Computer Systems Laboratory, is
shown here with the OmniView
display, described in the company 's
patent application as "a real-time,
auto-stereoscopic, multiplanar 3-D
display system. " The display surface
is a translucent double-helix disk
that's mounted on a rotating shaft. As
the disk spins (at 600 rpm), a low-
power laser beam passes over it. This
beam scans the disk in nvo dimen-
sions, but, as TI explains it, the eye of
the beholder "fuses the discrete points
of light painted on the disk" into a
3-D image. The spinning disk can be
adjusted to change the size and shape
of the display space, either short and
wide or tall and thin. Resolution of the
laser scanning system is about 750 by
750 pi.xels. The prototype as currently
configured can display full-color
images generated with a Sun
workstation. TI is seeking partners to
develop applications that use the new
display technology.

NOVEMBER 1990 • BYTE 19

MICROBYTES

N ANOB YTES

This won"t be the year for the debut
of the certified 50-MHz i486, as it
turns out. Intel officials have
conceded that the top-speed model of
the i486 processor won't be ready
until next year. The original target
date for the 1486/50 was "by the end
of 1990." An Intel spokesperson said
it now looks like "sometime in
1991." That means announcements
of 50-MHz i486 machines should
begin any day now.

So while Intel keeps working on the
50-MHz i486, a young California
company is chilling out. Velox
Computer (Santa Clara, CA) claims
that it can speed up an i486 just by
refrigerating it. Velox says its Ice
Cap module allows i486s to run 50
percent faster than their rated speeds.
A 33-MHz i486 can run rehably at
50 MHz, according to Velox presi-
dent Mel Snyder. The Ice Cap is a
refrigeration module, about 3 inches
tall, that fits on top of the processor
in a conventional microcomputer and
cools it to 0°C. It uses a solid-state
thermonic element to combat the
effects of heat. Active cooling has
been used in mainframes for years,
but it"s rare in microprocessor
applications. So far, Snyder says, his
company has sold modules to about
40 firms, including Digital Equip-
ment and Everex. Everex isn't
planning any products that use the
cooling tower, but a spokesperson
said it's playing with it "to see what
50 MHz does.""

The techno-legal morass of cloning
Intel's 386 CPU has bewitched and
bewildered some chip makers. But
Integrated Information Tech-
nology (Santa Clara, CA), which
already makes its own versions of
Intel's math coprocessors, confirms
that it is working on a replicant
of Intel's top-of-the-line CPUs.
"We do have an R&D program to
do a 386/486-compatible product."
IIT president Chi-Shin Wang told
BYTE. It will be a stand-alone CPU
that's code-compatible with Intel's,
Wang said. Although Wang would
not say when that chip will be ready,
sources say that it's likely to appear
sometime in 1991. As for potential
legal problems, Wang said. "In our
design, we can get around [Intel's]
patents."

technique on the Teraplex 32-bit CMOS
design is about as fast as on a MIPS
R30b0 RISC processor with an FPU.

One advantage to using such basic
instructions is that they can be com-
bined easily to form more complex
instructions. As a result, the MISC
design can emulate other processors.
Teraplex officials say they have
checked this with a system running MS-
DOS programs and have test systems
that can run MIPS and SPARC pro-
grams. Teraplex is also investigating
running Motorola 68000 code.

One of the big advantages of the
MISC design is that it doesn't require
instruction decoding. Unencoded
instruction words directly control the
hardware of the chip. The current 32-bit
design from Teraplex uses a long
instruction word (LIW) technique that
fetches 128 bits at a time. The first 64
bits tell the control unit and universal
functional unit what to do with the other
64 bits, which are two operands. The
benefits of this technique include the
elimination of microcode and decoding
circuits, as well as the ability to process
larger amounts of data more quickly.
The current design is capable of
operating at about the equivalent of 60
VAX MIPS, according to McKinney.

The MISC approach minimizes the
use of clock cycles, which helps to
eliminate waiting periods required to
make sure that all signals are ready
before issuing a clock. The control and
functional units that handle processing
are designed to filter instructions
through without rigidly timing them.
McKinney describes this design as a
"big Pachdnko machine," after the

Japanese arcade machines that filter and
bounce hundreds of ball bearings
through metal pins.

Teraplex programs its chip using
compilers and a language called
Teraplex Intermediate Language
Interface. This is a high-level assembly-
like language for an imaginary serial
processor. It is expanded by the TILI
compiler into direct machine instruc-
tions. Higher-level languages like C are
first compiled into TILI for execution.

Teraplex plans to begin prototype
production of chips by the end of the
year and hopes to have commercial
workstations and desktop computers
based on the chip in the fourth quarter
of 1991 . Company officials say they're
dealing with several third parties to
design computer systems around MISC.

Teraplex is not the only company
involved in research in this area. There
are a few VLIW SPARC systems in the
works, and British computing pioneer
Clive Sinclair is rumored to have
developed a similar processor with a
96-bit instruction word, a design that
sources say can emulate existing micro-
processors.

Some experts have predicted that
architectures using long (and very long)
instruction words might supersede RISC
designs. By combining this technique
with a minimal instruction set, Teraplex
is attempting to bring about two design
revolutions: raising speed limits, and
developing processors that can imitate
other processors. The latter goal of
processors that can share binary code
could herald true interoperability among
computers of different designs.

— Owen Linderlwlm

Montana Researcher Claims Optical Processor

A researcher at the Rocky Mountain
Research Center (Missoula, MT)
says he has developed the first working
optical logic device, capable of per-
forming the Boolean operations that are
basic to the electronic transistor.
According to John Halt, he has designed
a hologram — a photographic recording
of a pattern of Ught beams — that can
accept two beams of light as an input
signal and return a single light beam as
an output. This forms the basis for an
inverter or amplifier that can perform
exclusive-OR and OR operations,
among others.

Halt told BYTE that "a patent search
has not turned up" any comparable
devices. Although some researchers
have written off the possibility of

performing logic operations entirely
with optics. Halt claims that his
invention forms the basic building block
for designing purely optical computers.
Halt's "optical transistor" performs the
logic funcdons optically, thereby
eliminating the need for expensive
electronic logic devices such as gallium
arsenide substrates, which are neverthe-
less slower than the equivalent optical
device. Halt says his optical transistor
could form the basis for optical RAM
systems, registers, multiplexers and
demultiplexers, and other standard
computer components.

Halt says he demonstrated his logic
hologram in a laboratory at Montana
State University in Bozeman. According
to a letter from an MSU physics

20 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

It talss less tD crack C and
Assembler thanyouU think.

Microsoft QuickC

With new Microsoft QuickC and QuickC
with QuickAssemblei;" mastering the hard-core

stuff is so easy it's almost
criminal. You see, the
Quick environment in-
cludes what we call the
QuickAdvisor, an inter-
active, hypertext manual
that furnishes answers
"""Jl^ on demand. As in on-line.

-'^Km While youte programming.
' ' JiSBK^ QuickC Compiler and

- QuickC with QuickAssembler
also include the new language features found in
the Microsoft C 6.0 Professional Development
System. So you'll find yourself in quite a powerful

Microsoft QuickC-Compiler
wMiQuickAssenibter

position. And, at the same time, you'll be assured
of upward compatibility with both of these prod-
ucts' professional counterparts.

Which means there's no need to trash any
of your existing code.

Plus, with the QuickC with QuickAssembler
Development System, C and Assembler are totally
integrated. Ensuring easy access to the features
you need to develop powerful applications.

To fmd out how easy it is to tap C and
Assembler or to upgrade, call (800) 541-1261,
Dept. L91. You'll find we offer the right combination.

Microsott

Making it all make sense'

Customers inside the 50 United Slates, call (800) 541-1261. Dept. L91. In Canada, call (416) 673-7638. Outside tlie US. and Canada, call (206) 882-8661. © 1990 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft. Hie Microsoft logo and QuickC are regis-
tered trademarks and Making it all make sense and QuickAssembler are trademarks ofMicrosofi Corporation.

For 25 years, Epson* printers
have placed ink on paper with
fine-crafted precision and ever-
increasing speed. Each character
as impressive as the last. A feat
that Epson 24-pin printers have

Do anything
and you would

2 Year Warranty

Just one more measure of how
dependable your Epson printer will be.

accomplished 15 trillion times over.
Today, dot matrix is the most
widely used printing technology
in business. Of course, the most
widely used dot matrix printers
are made by Epson. The very

Two year warranty available on all Epson printers, except the LQ-2550 and DFX Series which offer a one-year limited warranty. Rpson is a registered trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation. Smart Park and

15 trillion times
be good at it, too.

company that invented them two decades ago.

Epson printers — from dot matrix to laser to
inkjet— are the epitome of reliability. But where
there is brawn, there is also a brain. Consider
Epson's ingenious SelecType " control panel and

skillful SmartPark™ paper handling. These and
other conveniences make operating an Epson as
flawless as the printing.

We could go on. But you already have 15
trillion reasons to choose an Epson.

Engineered For The Way You Work?

EPSON

SelecType are trademarks of Epson America. Inc. ©1990, Epson America. Inc.. 2780 Lomiia Blvd.. Torrance. CA *I(1505. (800) 922-8911.

MICROBYTES

N ANOB YTES

Dell Computer (Austin, TX) has
developed a new disk drive control-
ler card that's aimed squarely at a
similar device announced by
Compaq last November at its
SystemPro introduction. The Dell
Drive Array card features the Intel
i960 32-bit RISC chip, a 256K-byte
static RAM cache, and connectors
for 10 Intelligent Drive Electronics
hard disk drives. The card can read
and write simultaneously from five
disk drives, a company executive
said. Dell officials claim that using
the controller with four disk drives
will yield a system with not only
four times the storage capacity but
approximately three times the per-
formance. The company is still
working on the code for the i960
chip, trying to bring the controller up
to this level of performance. When
we spoke with them, Dell officials
hadn't decided on a price yet for the
Drive Array, but they estimated that
it could be somewhere around
$1200.

Mac upgrade or Mac clone? Texas
MacExpress (Austin, TX) has
designed an "upsrade" for owners of
the Mac Plus, SE. and Mac 512KE
that the company claims will give
them the performance of a Mac Ilci
for only $2299— about half the cost
of the genuine Apple product. The
System 30 comes in a box that looks
like an IBM-type PC. '"The Apple
ROMs that are used in the product
have been bought by the customers,
who disable their old machines when
they are taken out," explained Kevin
Cochran, president of Texas MacEx-
press, a subsidiary of Cork Comput-
ers. The system is supposed to ship
this month, Cochran said. "We've
had a team of programmers working
for the last six months in-house to
produce our own proprietary
operating system that bypasses
Color QuickDraw. It's copyrighted
software. That's how a Mac Plus
user with ROMs that don't have
Color QuickDraw in them can
upgrade to color." Cochran told
BYTE. The System 30 has three
NuBus slots, runs a 68030 at 25
MHz, and has a built-in paged
memory management unit and 8-bit
video, along with a 1.44-MB FDHD
floppy disk drive that uses the Apple
File Exchange utility.

professor. Halt demonstrated "several
optical digital devices," including
"exclusive-OR, OR, amplification, and
inverter."

According to Halt, his hologram can
be manufactured "synthetically" using
software for designing holograms. Halt
is looking for a major research lab or
company to license his technology and
to interface the necessary design
software to existing hologram programs.
Major improvements in hologram
design software are needed to make his
invention a viable product, he concedes.

Optical computing devices have
made great progress in storage and

Moving application programs to
different operating systems, and
getting them all to work together, is one
of the biggest challenges facing
software developers today. Now IBM
and Metaphor say they're going to try to
make it easier. The two companies have
formed a joint venture, called Patriot
Partners (Mountain View. CA). to
create a new applications software envi-
ronment that they hope will offer an
object-oriented development system for
building easily portable programs.

The environment will be independent
of current operating systems in that it
will ride above the operating-system
kernel, but the resultant applications
will be able to run on OS/2 and Unix
machines, the companies said. An
application written for a particular
processor architecture will run on that
processor, without being modified,
regardless of operating system: for other
processors, applications will only have
to be recompiled, a Metaphor official
said. Initial hardware targets are 386-
based machines running OS/2 or Unix

Many printer designs, such as those
in most laser printers, involve
the use of mirrors. But Texas Instru-
ments has developed a new type of
printer technology that is taking this
approach to something of an extreme.
The company's new technology uses
multiple mirrors — hundreds, in fact.
What's more amazing is that all these
mirrors fit on a single silicon chip.

TI's novel printer technology is based
on a new type of chip called a deform-
able mirror device (DMD). It consists of
an array of several hundred microscopic

connection applications (e.g., fiber-
optic connections and optical disk
drives), but they have proved to be
inaccurate when used for computation.
Therefore, most research in optics has
been devoted to the development of
hybrid "electro-optical'' computers,
which use optics for storage and data
transfer and employ electronic semicon-
ductors for performing logic operations.
Researchers at AT&T's Bell Labs,
Bridsh Aerospace, Fujitsu, and other
R&D centers have focused on linking
optics to high-speed gallium arsenide
logic devices.

— Nick Barau

and IBM's RS/6000 running AIX.
Current apphcadons and these new
applications are expected to be able to
share informadon through Dynamic
Data Exchange. Although the Macin-
tosh isn't currently a target of the
project, a Metaphor spokesperson said
that it could be in the future.

The planned graphical user interface
for these new applications will be
different than exisdng GUIs but will
most likely resemble, and will incorpo-
rate a superset of. Presentation Manager
and Motif The Patriot programs will
operate on the major PC network
systems, such as Novell NetWare, and
will possibly have distributed object
capabilities.

The new venture hopes to release a
specification for its environment next
year and a toolkit in 1992.

It's an ambitious project, and IBM
and Metaphor officials concede that it
will take them two or three years to get
it all working. Patriot expects to have its
software working sometime in 1993.

— D. Barker

mirrors that can swivel, in seesaw-
fashion, on a tiny axle. By varying the
electrical charge around the mirror, TI
can change the orientation of the mirror,
moving it to one of thi'ee posidons. The
mirror can be completely horizontal or
tilted slightly to one side or the other.

TI produces the DMD chip in a new
three-dimensional chip-manufacturing
process. First a base layer is put down,
followed by a layer of aluminum that
functions as the mirror. This layer is
etched in such a way that the aluminum
is arranged in tiny squares, with small

IBM, Metaphor to Build Platform for Portability

TI's New Printer Technology Does It with Mirrors

24 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

our customers expect software that works.
All the time. The key to software quality is
exhaustive testing, ft's also an engineer's
worst nightmare. But it doesn't have to be.
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Introducing the Atron Evaluator. The first and
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tive. Start a new project. Or go home.

For more information about the Atron Evaluator,
call us at (401) 351-2273. And put an end to your
worst nightmares. Automatically.

CADRE

Cadre Technologies

19545 N.W. Von Neumann Dr,

Suite 200

Beaverton, OR 97006

Circle 66 on Reader Service Card

In Europe, contact:

Elverex Limited. Enterprise House
Plassev Technology Park, Limerick. Ireland
Phone: 061-338177

qk Training Limited, Cecily Hill Castle
Cirencester. Gloucestershire. GL7 2EF, England
Phone: (0285) 5888

That's Intel's. And our
new family of Math
Coprocessors is faster —
up to 5096 for the 287XL.
In fact, working side by side with the Intel
microprocessor already inside your computer,
an Intel Math Coprocessor can increase the
speed of your spreadsheet, graphics, CAD and

database programs by as much as 500%. That's
good to know.

And the fact that it's made by Intel is also
good to know.

Because Intel developed the first Math
Coprocessor in 1982, and w^e've shipped
millions since then. Each one is manufactured
by Intel in the world's most advanced logic

facility, and then tested and retested against an
exacting set of criteria.

And we can guarantee that every Intel
Math Coprocessor lives up to the industry
hardware standards we helped develop,
delivering the same results regardless of what
type of computer you're doing calculations on.

So call Intel at (800) 538-3373. Ask for

Literature Packet #F6 on Intel's new and im-
proved Math Coprocessors. And put an Intel
Math Coprocessor inside your computer. It's the
only one with the Intel name to live up to.

inter

The Computer Inside:

©1990 Intel Corporation. 386 and 387 are trademarks of Intel Corporation.

Circle 175 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 176)

MICROBYTES

NANOBYTES

Eager to get the software develop-
ment ball rolling. Quarterdeck has
provided "key developers'" with
alpha toolkits for Desqview/X,
which combines the company's DOS
multitasking system with the X
Window System. The two available
kits support development for
Desqview/X using standard X 1 1
libraries and OSF Motif libraries.
They are "stable enough" for devel-
opers to begin application develop-
ment cycles. Quarterdeck said. The
company plans to soon release a kit
for Xview, based on Sun"s Open
Look. Desqview/X is supposed to be
commercially ready in early 1991.

Japanese companies are apparently
planning to produce the next two
generations of DRAM chips on 8-
inch silicon wafers. Because bigger
wafers yield more parts, this should
result in faster production of 4- and
16-Mb DRAMs through bigger
volumes. An 8-inch wafer of silicon
has nearly twice as much surface
area as the 6-inch wafers now
commonly used. According to
reports from Japan, Toshiba is
expected to start its 8-inch line for
4-Mb DRAMs soon. NEC plans to
start testing this year or early next
year and expects to have its 8-inch
line operational by 1992.

According to figures from the Japan
Electronic Industry Development
Association, half of the 327,000
laptop computers sold in Japan this
spring (April to June) were of the
notebook variety.

Incompatibilities between applica-
tions running under various Intel-
based versions of Unix should be
eliminated by the new edition of the
Intel Binary Compatibility Specifi-
cation. Intel. AT&T, and The Santa
Cruz Operation say they'll collabo-
rate on a new specification that will
enable developers to write but one
version of an application instead of
one for each Unix variant. Develop-
ers working with AT&T Unix
System 'V/386 release 3.2 or 4.0.
SCO Unix System V/386, SCO
Xenix 386, or Open Desktop will be
able to have their applications run
under any 386- or i486-based
operating system that complies with
the new binary specification.

28 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

axles projecting from two opposite
corners. Then TI uses a combustion
process to remove the material under
the main body of the mirrors. The result
is that the mirrors are supported only at
two corners and can swivel freely. "TI
officials admit that this manufacturing
process is complex, but the company
hopes to eventually produce 2-D arrays
containing thousands of mirrors. These
could be used in a new type of video
display.

Tl's first application of the technol-
ogy will be in a printer. The company
has created a chip that contains 840
mirrors arranged in a linear array. The
DMD chip will be used somewhat like
an LCD array in some page printers,
selectively letting tiny beams of light hit
a xerographic print drum. TI says that a
DMD printer will have 10 percent fewer
moving parts than an equivalent laser
printer. "TI also claims that the DMD

chip will be cheaper to manufacture
than a large LED or LCD array.

Because it can shorten the amount of
time that a mirror is "on" for each
pixel, the DMD chip will enable a
printer to generate variable-size pixels,
thus producing true gray scales. By
contrast, a laser beam must scan across
an entire row of pixels and conceivably
has less time on each pixel in which to
vary its brightness.

'The first DMD printer will be used in
one of Tl's most successful printer
markets: the airline industry. The
device will be used to print the new
ATB (automated ticket/boarding)
tickets, which look somewhat like
computer punch cards. TI claims that
such a printer will be able to output 40
tickets per minute at a resolution of 240
dpi. TI officials say they're not sure
when this new printer will be available.

— Rich Malloy

AMD Accelerates RISC Line with FPU

Advanced Micro Devices says its
new 32-bit RISC processor, the
Am29050, will significantly speed up
such devices as color laser printers,
graphics boards, optical character recog-
nition scanners, X Window System
terminals, and imaging systems. To
create the new chip. AMD has essen-
tially added a pipelined FPU to its
29000 processor, currently embedded in
many graphics-intensive products,
including Apple's Macintosh Display
Card 8*24 GC, in which it accelerates
QuickDraw screen-drawing operations.

Running at its peak of 40 MHz, the
29050 can perform arithmetic opera-
tions (IEEE-compatible single- and
double-precision) at a top speed of 80
MFLOPS, AMD claims, putting it in the
same MFLOPS league as Intel's i860.

The new chip is code- and pin-com-
patible with the 29000, so applications
tailored to that processor will be able to
run on the 29050 without any changes,
AMD says. In "floating-point-intensive
situations," those applications will be
faster "by a factor of four," according to

an AMD spokesperson. The chip has a
64-entry memory management unit, a
1024-byte instruction cache, support for
burst-mode access, and a three-address
instruction architecture. The processor
will be available in 20-, 25-, 33-, and
40-MHz models.

Although Apple hasn't yet committed
to using the new AMD chip, a member
of the graphics hardware design depart-
ment said that the company would like
to have the floating-point capabilities
that such a processor will offer. "With
floating-point, we could do some of the
transforms for 3-D drawing faster.'" he
said. "QuickDraw is 100 percent integer
right now, but if we wanted to go to 3-D
coordinates, if we wanted QuickDraw to
have a 3-D architecture, floating-point
would be necessary." Apple officials
have said one reason they put the 29000
on the 8*24 card is its "growth path"; in
other words, because they're plug-
compatible, future members of the
29000 family could easily replace the
current chips.

— D. Barker

Intel Designs an SX for Laptop Computers

Intel (Santa Clara, CA) has developed
a new version of its 386SX processor
that's built for laptops and other
portable computers. The new 386SL
Microprocessor SuperSet is essentially a
microprocessor with a chip set to back it
up. The 386SL includes critical design

changes that extend the 386 architecture
to add advanced power management
features at the processor level.

The Superset consists of the 386SL
processor and the 82360 I/O chip. The
chips operate at 20 MHz only, matching
the highest speed of the 386SX, which

i

DRD0S5J).

WE COULDN'T HAVE
SAID IT BEHER.

So what's all the hoopla about?

MemoryMAX,, for one thing. A breakthrough in
memory management that can give you more than
620K so you can run today's memory-intensive
applications, including, for example, dBASE IVs
on Novell NetWare,.

In fact, John Dvorak calls MemoryMAX nothing
short of "amazing:'

The Press goes on to mention that because
DR DOS 5.0 is fully DOS compatible, you can run
all your current DOS applications. And because it is
easy to install and requires no hard disk reformat-

ting, upgrading to DR DOS is simple. Since DR DOS
5.0 also includes ViewMAX,., a graphical interface,
DOS is easier than ever to use.

Now if we could just get a word in edgewise, we
would simply like to add that DR DOS 5.0 is available
now. Call your local dealer today.

DR DOS 5.0

Digital Research ®

WE MAKE COMPUTERS WORK

For Laptop and Notebook manufacturers, DR DOS 5.0 is fully executable from either RAM or ROM. And, it's available
with BatteryMAX,., a battery-saving feature that can increase battery life 2-3 times (dependent upon OEM implementation).

Digilai Research is a registered trademark, and the Digital Research logo. DR DOS,
MemoryMAX, ViewMAX, and BatteryMAX are Irademari<s of Digital Research Inc. Copyright © 1990, Digital Research Inc.

Reprinted from PC Week May 14, 1990. Copyright © 1990 Ziff Communications Company.
Reprinted with permission from The San Francisco Examiner. Copyright © 1990 The San Francisco Examiner.

Circle 109 on Reader Service Card

WHAT MAKES

A BEST

I I 1

1

]

A great piot begins with a great idea, easily translated through
every phase of design with Generic CADD 5.0.

v.;

No matter the complexity, symbols keep your ux)rk flowing uninter-
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into desktop publishing programs to create technical illustrations.

Need to fit a conventional design in a nonconventional space? Revise
and improvise in less time with Generic CADD's one-stop convenience.

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Ask any of over 250,000 users of Our latest version, Generic CADD 5.0,

Generic CADD!" They've discovered CADD is just S395. It's a complete design and \

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Whether it's millimeters or miles, count on Generic CADDJor
Jloating point precision at any scale.

Generic CADD 5.0 supports plotters as well as dot matrix and
laser printers, including PostScript' printers.

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You'll see every plot has a great ending.

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Deadline pressure is a thing of the past Designs can be quickly
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Any way you look at it CADD is a natural tooljor bringing clarity to
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Circle 143 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 144)

MICROBYTES

N ANOBYTES

National Design, Inc. (Austin, TX),
plans to brina out this month a
TMS34020-based VGA card with
the lowest price we've seen yet on a
board using Texas Instruments'
latest graphics processor. The new
Volante board will sell for $995,
according to an NDI official. The
card is designed to work in different
graphics environments, including
Windows. 85 14/A. TIGA, the X
Window System, and CGI. The
boards will also ship with AutoCAD
drivers from Panacea.

Share or LAN? The Multiuser DOS
Federation is promoting multiuser
PCs as an alternative to LANs. One
MDOS member says it's "a myth"
that LANs are the only way for
groups of computer users to work
together. The organization hopes to
establish standards for multiuser
computing. Among the charter
members are representatives of
Digital Research, Theos Software,
SunRiver, DigiBoard, Alloy, and
Viewport International.

The National Institute of Stan-
dards and Technology says its
Computer Security Bulletin Board

is now much easier to access and
navigate. The board is a source of
information on computer security,
from bibliographies of articles to
listings of seminars. The NIST also
posts information on incidents such
as virus attacks. To connect with the
BBS, dial (301) 948-5717 (at 2400,
1200, or 300 bps: 8 data bits; no
parity; 1 stop bit). To connect with
the help squad, dial (301) 975-3359.

Paper is still the primary informa-
tion storage medium, according to
a survey of information managers
conducted by Du Pont (Wilmington,
DE). Almost half the polled atten-
dees at the Association for Informa-
tion and Image Management
conference said they use hard copy
as their main means of storing
documents and drawings. About half
that many said they use microfilm
and aperture cards. Only 1 1 percent
use optical disks, but 40 percent said
they see rewritable optical disks as
the next big thing in storage. As for
their biggest management challenge,
almost half said it's finding the
information they're looking for.

32 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

the 386SL closely resembles in per-
formance terms. Intel has added a
hardware-level interrupt and a new
memory-address space. These are
reserved for a new interrupt, called the
system management interrupt (SMI).
Using a system management handler,
hardware companies will be able to
access reserved system management
memoty and I/O addresses.

The SMI allows suspend and resume
operations, peripheral standby. CPU
speed control, uninterruptible power
supply capabilities, and programmed
extensions by OEMs to cover almost
any other imaginable power manage-
ment activity. Despite this extra logic
that can remove processor time from the
operating system, Intel claims that the
386SL outperforms a 386SX.

The 386SL includes a main- memory
subsystem controller with a 32-MB
address space, an EMS 4.0 memory
controller, an AT bus controller, a full
cache controller, and support for the
80387SX math coprocessor. The
companion device, the 82360SL,

They're called arylated poly (p-
phenylene sulfide) (APPS)
polymers, and they could change the
way microcircuits are made. Research-
ers at the University of California at
Berkeley say these new materials could
greatly reduce the time and complexity
involved in fabricating chips.

Building microchips is a tedious
process that takes as many as nine steps,
including coating sihcon slices with
silicon oxide and a photoresist polymer,
masking off the areas that are to become
electrically conductive from those that
aren't, printing the circuit pattern onto
the silicon, exposing this sandwich to
light {photolyzation), etching away the
nonconductive silicon oxide, and
stripping off the photresist.

But with these new polymers, that
process can be simplified "to two or
three steps," says Berkeley chemistry
professor Bruce Novak. The new
polymers normally function as insula-
tors, but the Berkeley team led by

supports CPU, memory, and peripheral
functions, as well as providing program-
mable features to manage power to
prolong battery life. Intel provides a set
of low-power support losic chips.

The 386SL and 82360SL are sold
separately and cost SI 76 and $45,
respectively, in quantities of 1000.

The new SL line signifies that Intel is
starting to attack the chip set market.
Several companies currently sell chip
sets that offer many of the power
management features of the 386SL in
support logic devices designed to be
used with the 386SX. However, Intel
has something those companies don't:
the ability to tie those features into the
processor itself Intel says its approach
to power management is inherendy
safer than that of the chip set manufac-
turers because the 386SL isn't having to
continually fight for control of memory,
interrupts, and the CPU with the
operating system and applications. The
new chip set should lead to laptops with
longer battery lives by late next year.

— Owen Linderholm

Novak discovered that when the
materials are exposed to light, they
become semiconductors; masked-off
areas remain insulators. Thin films
made of APPS can be laid over a circuit
pattern and turned into microcircuits,
with the exposed areas working as
conducting wires. The thin film
basically becomes a microcircuit after
being photolyzed, so no addidonal
processing is necessary, Novak says.
Because the photolyzed films are
capable of conducting electricity, chip
makers would no longer have to use
silicon wafers; APPS films could be put
down on different kinds of materials.

APPS films could also end up on
your computer screen. Because the
films are so thin (0.25 micron) and
optically transparent, they could be
painted directly on the screen. like a
coat of microcircuits. Current running
through the circuits would generate
visual patterns, Novak says.

— D. Barker

ARE YOU AN INNOVATOR? If you, your company, or your research group is
working on a new technology or developing products that will significantly affect
the world of microcomputing, we'd like to write about it. Phone the BYTE news
department at (603) 924-9281. Or send a fax to (603) 924-2550. Or write to us at
One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458. Or send E-mail to "microbytes"
on BIX or to "BYTE" on MCI Mail. An electronic version of Microbytes, offering a
wider variety of computer-related tiews on a daily basis, is available on BIX.

New Material Could Ease Pains of Chip Making

In Redondo Beach,
California . . .

You'll find breathtaking ocean views,
sensational surfers and Gateway 2000
computers.

Dive 'N Surf, famous for Body Glove®
fashions and watersports equipment, is a

Graham Pask, Computer Systems Manager for Dive 'N Surf, and
his GatewiQ 2000 25 MHZ 386 network server.

member of the growmg family of Gateway 2000
customers in California. Dive 'N Surf
Computer Systems Manager Graham Pask
chose a Gateway 25 MHZ 386 machine for his
network server. The system runs point-of-sale,
inventory control word processing and desktop
publishing software.

"I decided to buy a Gateway 2000 system
because they had everything I wanted for a
good price." said Graham. "But what really
impressed me was the service. I had a problem
with my 3 1/2 inch drive so they sent me a new
drive the very next day."

Graham said he was so happy with his
Gateway system at work that he bought a
Gateway 2000 25 MHZ 386 Cache machine for
his home.

GAimm2ooo

•I n fn-'rd in ihf hmincw

Until well after sunset, surfers ride the big waxes on the
Pacific Ocean near Redondo Beach. California.

And In Barrow,
Alaska . . .

Over 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle,
you'll find polar bears, seals, whales, wahais,
lemmings, snowy owls and what appear to be the
largest mosquitoes in existence. On a summer
afternoon you'll also see parka-clad tourists
walking among local
residents in shorts. And
of course you'll find a
good Mexican restaurant
and Gateway 2000
computers.

Cape Smythe Air
Service, a regional
commuter airline serving
Ban'ow, Kotzebue, Nome
and remote villages in
Alaska, has one of several
Gateway 2000 computers
operating in Bartow. Jeff
Frier, Cape Smythe's
accountant, chose a
Gateway 2000 386SX to
run spreadsheet, data base and accounting
applications.

"I was trying to decide between Gateway
2000 and a competitor," Jeff commented, "so I
talked to a person who owns the competitor's
system. He was disgruntled about the service
he received from them. Then I talked to another
person in Barrow who has a Gateway and she
was happy with the product and service. The
choice was pretty obvious -- when you're doing
business in a remote area, the most important
things a vendor can offer are reliability and
good service."

Jeff said he also appreciated Gateway's
features and price. "When you have to pay S6 a
gallon for milk, it's nice to find a bargain
somewhere." Jeff plans to buy another Gateway
2000 computer in a few months .

Jeff Frier, Cape Smythe Air Service, with
his Gateway 2000 386SX.

On a mid-July day in Barrow, Alaska, fishing boats weave
in and out of icebergs on the Chukchi Sea.

In Bradford,
Pennsylvania . . .

You'll find a charming small city nestled in
the Allegheny National Forest. The city's most
prominent local business is the Zippo
Manufacturing Company, where you'll find 18
Gateway 2000 computers in use.

Fred Gronemeyer, Zippo Manufacturing Company, and his
GaUway 2000 20 MUZ 386 system.

Zippo is known around the world for its
windproof lighter made famous during the
second World War, although today the
company's product line includes many other
specialty advertising items. Fred Gronemeyer,
Systems Analyst for Zippo, chose Gateway
2000 as the company's standard PC.

"We needed to set standards for PC's and
software to make the most efficient use of these
tools," Fred remarked. "We started out with
PC's from different manufacturers, but once I
tried Gateway I was convinced we could get the
highest quaUty, most reliable machines at the
best price from Gateway 2000. I was also
impressed by my salesman and the tech support
people I've dealt with at Gateway."

Fred said by the end of the year Zippo will
be running every system Gateway 2000 makes,
from 286's up to a 486 and everything in
between.

Main Street, U.SA., is located in Bradford, Pennsylvania.

And In New York
City . . .

You'll find your senses overwhelmed by the
countless sights and sounds of this one-of-a-
kind city. And of course you'll find thousands
of Gateway 2000 computers here.

One New York City Gateway 2000 owner is

Jim Rondinelli, independent record producer and engineer, with
Ids Gateway 2000 386SX.

independent record producer and engineer Jim
Rondinelli. Jim uses his Gateway 2000 386SX
with a sophisticated player piano sequencer to
compose music.

"The software I use is written for the Mac and
for IBM compatibles," Jim said, "but it runs
much better on IBM compatibles. And it runs
best of all on my Gateway. I travel often and
I've used my software on a lot of other
machines. They don't even compare with my
Gateway 2000."

Jim said he bought his Gateway 2000 because
it was equipped for the real world with ample
hard drive capacity and RAM, both sizes of disk
drives and color VGA graphics.

"It's the fastest file transfer computer I've
ever used," continued Jim. "plus it ran right out
of the box. One afternoon and I was fully
functional on a brand new system."

The streets of Manhattan are a constant blur of activity.

Near Camp Verde,
Texas . . .

You'll find the magnificent Hill Country of
Texas with rattlesnakes, prickly pear cactus and
huge cattle ranches. You'll also find Larry
Mahan and his Gateway 2000 computer.
Larry Mahan is to rodeo what Jack Nicklaus
is to golf He is Six
Times World Champion
Ail-Around Cowboy and
is a member of the
Cowboy Hall of Fame,
But Larry also runs
a cattle and horse ranch
and is involved in a
western apparel
manufacturing company
and a new Southwestern
foods company His
Gateway 2000 20 MHZ
386 system is an integral
part of his business
operations. "We run
cow and calf software for
our Longhom cattle herd," Larry said. "You
can't really manage a livestock business
efficiently without it. Plus we do accounting,
spreadsheets and word processing on our
Gateway 2000 computer."

Asked why he chose Gateway 2000, Larry
said, "They had the best features and price - and
thought a computer company that puts pictures
of cattle in their ads had to be my kind of
people. And 1 was right. The people I've talked
with at Gateway 2000 are honest-to-goodness
nice folks. It's a pleasure doing business with

Larry Mahan raises registered Texas Longhom cattle.

Across The Country

YOU'LL Find

You'll find so many Gateway 2000 computers in so many
places today because people everywhere know a good value
when they see one. In all 50 states and in over 70 foreign
countries, thousands of people are comparing prices, quality
and service - and choosing Gateway 2000.

But value alone doesn't explain how a little company in
the Midwest, started just five years ago, managed to
outdistance hundreds of other companies, selling more
systems through the direct market channel today than any
other PC manufacturer in the country.

The explanation is that the company has always main-
tained a small company attitude. With Gateway 2000, you
still get the little things you'd expect only from a small firm.

STEMS

SOLD

Little things like a positive technical support depart-
ment. When Graham Pask told his Gateway 2000 tech rep
that his 3 1/2" drive didn't work, he received a new drive the

very next day.

Little things like
the way Gateway
2000 systems are
fully loaded with all
the features you
want. Jim
Rondinelli bought a
Gateway 2000
computer because

S Y
100.000
90,000
80,000
70,000
60,000
50.000
40.000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0

1985
-SO-

1986
-300-

1987
-500-

4.000-

1989
-25.000-

1990
-100.000-
projeaed

And Around The World,
Gateway 2000!

they're "equipped for the real world."

Little things like the way Gateway
2000 sales people develop excellent
business relationships with thek customers.
Fred Gronemeyer tried his first Gateway because he was
impressed by his sales person. Eighteen systems later, Fred
is still impressed by his sales person.

And the biggest little thing of all is the feeling you get
when you deal with the people at Gateway 2000. As Larry
Mahan said, "they're honest-to-goodness nice folks."

Compare prices, quality and service. Then add up the
little things you get from small town people running an
old-fashioned, high-tech business.

What you get is everything you're looking for. Whether
you're from Indiana or Switzerland, Georgia or Nova Scotia,
you've got a friend in the business at Gateway 2000.

GAmm2(xx)

'You've got a friend in the business."

8 0 0 - 5 2 3 - 2 0 0 0

610 Gateway Drive • N. Sioux City, SD 57049 • 605-232-2000 • Fax 605-232-2023

GATEWAY 2000 SYSTEMS

I2MHZ286VGA

t 80286-12 Processor
H 2 Megs RAM

■ 1.2 Meg 5.25" Drive

■ 1.44 Meg 3.5" Drive

■ 40 Meg 28ms IDE Drive

■ 16 Bit VGA with 5 12K

■ 14" 1024 X 768 Color Monitor

■ 1 Parallel & 2 Serial Ports

■ 101 Key Keyboard
r MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01

$1695.00

GATEWAY 386SX

1. 64K Cache RAM
E 4 Megs RAM

■ 1.2 Meg 5.25" Drive

■ 1.44 Meg 3.5" Drive

■ 110 Meg ESDI Drive ^=^^

■ ESDI Cache Controller
W 16 Bit VGA with 512K

C 14" 1024x768 Color Monitor

■ 1 Parallel & 2 Serial Ports

■ 101 Key Keyboard
EMS DOS 3.3 or 4.01
W MS WINDOWS 3.0

$3395.00

B 2 Megs RAM

■ 1.2 Meg 5.25" Drive

■ 1.44 Meg 3.5" Drive

■ 40 Meg 17ms IDEDrivT

■ 16 Bit VGA with 512K

■ 14" 1024x768 Color Monitor

■ 1 Parallel & 2 Serial Ports

■ 101 Key Keyboard

■ MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01

■ MS WINDOWS 3.0

$1995.00

25MHZ 386CACHE^M 33MHZ 386VGA

it 64K Cache RAM

■ 4 Megs RAM [ fc=d j

■ 1.2 Meg 5.25" Drive '™™

■ 1.44 Meg 3.5" Drive

■ 150 Meg ESDI Drive

■ ESDI Cache Controller

■ 16 Bit VGA with 5 12K

■ 14" 1024x768 Color Monitor

■ 1 Parallel & 2 Serial Ports

■ 101 Key Keyboard

■ MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01

■ MS WINDOWS 3.0

$3695.00

20MHZ 386VGA

4 Megs RAM

1.2 Meg 5.25" Drive ^'i^^
1.44 Meg 3.5" Drive 1S8^^
80 Meg 17ms IDE Drive
16 Bit VGA with 5 12K
14" 1024 X 768 Color Monitor
1 Parallel & 2 Serial Ports
101 Key Keyboard •
MS DOS 3.3 or 4.01 = ^
MS WINDOWS 3.0

$2595.00 s

25 MHZ 386 VGA

$2695.00

25MHZ 486VGA

64K Cache RAM

4 Megs RAM
i 1.2 Meg 5.25" Drive
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Letters

and Ask BYTE

Computer-Aided Independence

As a disabled computer user, I would like
to thank you for "Opening Doors for the
Disabled" by Joseph J. Lazzaro (Au-
gust). Lazzaro provides an invaluable
service by making more people— both
disabled and nondisabled— aware of the
full scope of adaptive technology.

He and I both have a vital interest in
this area, since without adaptive technol-
ogy neither of us could function as inde-
pendently as we do. I am a quadriplegic,
and I work (and play) on a computer 8
hours a day using the Magic Wand Key-
board, a miniature IBM-style keyboard
that my husband originally designed for
me. This keyboard works with a wand
and requires no strength or dexterity. We
now sell the keyboard, and earlier this
year, our company was awarded a grant
for $30,000 from the New York State
Science and Technology Foundation for
projects relating to the keyboard's use as
an educational/vocational tool.

Anyone interested in obtaining infor-
mation on adaptive computer technology
should contact the Trade Center in Madi-
son, Wisconsin, at (608) 262-6966, and
the IBM National Support Center for
People with Disabilities in Atlanta,
Georgia, at (800) 426-2133.

More articles like Lazzaro's are need-
ed to reveal exactly what is available and
how profoundly computers can affect a
disabled person's life. At stake are not
spreadsheet performance and network-
ing capabilities, but basic needs of self-
realization.

Susan Crouch
Spring Valley, NY

Wolf in Fly's Clothing

I enjoyed "The Flight of the Bee Wolf"
by Ben Smith (June).

I would like to suggest one correction.
The bee wolf is not a fly, which would be
found under the order Diptera. It is found
in the order Hymenoptera, which con-
tains sawflies, parasitic wasps, ants,
wasps, and bees.

The bee wolf, taxonomically, is lo-
cated under the family Sphecidae, sub-
family Philanthinae , tribe Philanthini,
which contains 29 species in North
America. They are also known as bee-
killer wasps.

I do not want to take away from your
efforts to produce interesting articles. I

just wanted you to know that entomolo-
gists do read BYTE through to the last
page. I have a great fascination for both
insects and computers.

Harry L. McMenemy
Memphis, TN

IBM Bashing?

Am I the only one who finds Joel S. Mos-
kowitz's Stop Bit ("Quest for a Mouse-
ball," July) just a wee bit strange?

First, he blackmails IBM into giving
him a brand-new mouse— just because he
lost the parts of his old one— or else he'll
write a big expose about the fact that this
part does not have a part number! For the
nuisance value and for gracious customer
relations, IBM accedes to his "request."

And then he writes the article anyway.
This, from a lawyer? First blackmail,
then breach of contract? No wonder the
world delights in telling jokes about the

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. Please
double-space your letter on one side of the
page and include your name and address.
Letters two pages in length or under have a
better chance of being published in their en-
tirety. Address correspondence to Letters
Editor, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane. Pe-
terborough, NH 03458. You can also send let-
ters via BlXmail do "editors. "

Your letter will be read, but because of the
large volume of mail we receive, we cannot
guarantee publication. We also reserve the
right to edit letters. It takes about four months
from the time we receive a letter until we pub-
lish it.

greed and venality of the legal "pro-
fession."

Lucien R. Greif
Chappaqua, NY

Bridge Work

In Jon Udell's review of a program called
Bridge ("Windows Shopping: 3.0 Appli-
cations Take Shape," July), he states that
the program "activates the clock, .. .re-
sizes it, and moves it to the lower right-
hand corner of my screen. . . . There's no
straightforward way to do this on a Mac
or in any of the Unix graphical user
interfaces."

This, at least with respect to Unix, is
false. Put the following line in your log-
in or profile file:

xclock -display unix:0.0 -geometry
50x50-50-50 &

This line will load an xclock, using
Unix-domain sockets, on screen zero of
display zero, with a window size of 50 by
50 pixels and the window placed in the
lower right-hand corner of the screen. If
xclock follows the Inter-Client Commu-
nications Conventions Manual (and as
an X Consortium-distributed demo, it
ought to), then it will pop up under any
compliant X11R4 window manager
without your intervention.

Garrett A. Wollman
South Burlington, VT

What you say is true: An X Window Sys-
tem manager can indeed control the ini-
tial size and location of an application's
window. My clock example, in retro-
spect, wasn 't well chosen. (Even under
Windows, there is no need to resize the
clock's window, since the clock can up-
date its display while running as an
icon.) The more interesting capability of
Bridge, as I pointed out, is its ability to
launch and interact with a collection of
graphical applications under program-
matic control. A Bridge program can, for
example, launch a spreadsheet and a
word processor and then cut a range of
numbers from the spreadsheet and paste
them into the word processor. Bridge uses
graphical programs as components of
meta-applications, just as Unix shell
scripts and DOS batch files use com-
mand-line programs.

Nothing precludes the invention of such

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 33

LETTERS

a graphical scripting language forX Win-
dow, but it's my understanding that it
hasn 't happened yet. I have no doubt that
resourceful X Window aficionados will
soon bring graphical user interface
scripting to Unix. And, of course, Mac
users are an.xiously awaiting the scripting
features promised for System 7. 0.

—Jon Udell

ESDI Explanation

I am curious as to how author Roger C.
Alford arrived at the conclusion that no
one uses hard sectoring ("The Evolution
of ESDI. "June).

Where I work, we use large ESDI
drives from Fujitsu and Micropolis, and
controller cards from SMS Technologies
and PSI Technologies (HyperStore), and
everything we buy is hard-sectored at the
factory. In fact, on the SMS Omti8640
and the HyperStore, no option exists for
soft sectoring.

Although soft sectoring is preferable,
hard sectoring seems to be the norm.

Dave Harrison
Los Angeles, CA

My statement that hard sectoring is not
generally used in ESDI implementations
is incorrect. As you point out, hard sec-
toring is still common in modern ESDI
implementations. The important thing to
note is that ESDI supports both soft and
hard sectoring. I apologize for any confu-
sion this may have caused.

— Roger C. Alford

Corvus Responds to Review

BYTE reviewed our ReadyNet in its
Product Focus "Networks of Peers'"
(June). We would like to address the
complaints of your editors.

In the cabling connections for the 1-
megabit-per-second ReadyNet, you open
a tap box and insert pretinned wires into
a punch-down block. While this is more
difficult than plugging the cable directly
into the tap box (as you do with the 4-
Mbps version), it is no more difficult
than plugging in a stereo speaker.

In the version that BYTE tested, it is
true that ReadyNet did not support sector
sizes larger than 512 bytes for volumes
larger than 32 megabytes. This has been
changed in the latest version, which
shipped in June.

If you type in connections from the
command line, the syntax has one more
parameter than the standard MS-NET
syntax that most other systems use. How-
ever, the ReadyNet manual in no way ad-
vises users to type in connection strings
from the command line. ReadyNet pro-
vides a simple menu program called

34 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Quick Connect that eliminates typing in
command-line strings. And since Quick
Connect provides the option of automati-
cally making the connections after every
reboot, there is no need to generate batch
files for connection loading. The BYTE
editors seem to have overlooked Quick
Connect.

It is false that there is no way to change
node or user names. You can change
them using NetView, another network
management program that the BYTE edi-
tors overlooked.

It is incredible that the BYTE editors
did not notice the print spooler. The print
spooler is automatically set up on the
first server, and it can be set up using
Quick Connect on any other node as
well. The queue manager was left out of
the original ReadyNet 1-Mbps version,
but it has always been available from
Corvus on the technical-support BBS. It
is currently available in the 4-Mbps and
the new 1-Mbps versions.

ReadyNet is designed for use in a
small office environment by people not
familiar with network operation. I am
sure that the BYTE editors try very hard
to be fair in their evaluations, but per-
haps their technical proficiency led them
to overlook some of the features that have
been included for the novice.

Janel Killheffer
Marketing Manager
Corvus
San Jose, CA

We agree that you don 't need an electrical
engineering degree to install ReadyNet 's
1-Mbps tap boxes. Still, these were the
only nonmodular connections that we en-
countered in the review. We don 't under-
stand why the entry-level version of a net-
work advertised as "self-installing " does
not supply modular connectors.

We are glad to hear that the latest ver-
sion of ReadyNet can work with non-5 12-
byte sectors and volumes larger than 32
MB. More and more vendor versions of
MS-DOS have such characteristics; it is
critical to support them.

It is true that Quick Connect automates
connections, and that you can specify
those connections by way of a menu sys-
tem. However, you use that menu system
to piece together connection strings ex-
pressed in terms of concepts (i.e. , plugs,
sockets, and modules) that confused us
and that we think will confuse novices
even more.

We didn 't say that ReadyNet won 't let
you change the default user names — it
will. We did not find a way to change the
names of workstations and printers. We
raised this question with a Corvus repre-

sentative. He told us that printer names
are indeed fixed and that workstation
names can be modified only by means of
a workaround.

We are glad that the 1-Mbps version of
ReadyNet now includes the queue man-
ager. It was, as you say, left out of the
original 1-Mbps version, and we did not
receive a supplementary copy by press
time. — Jon Udell and Rob Mitchell

The Problem with Toner

We would like to clarify two points about
the Kyocera F-IOOOA laser printer re-
viewed in your July Product Focus,
"Laser Printers Get Personal."

From the article's narrative, it is clear
that the first toner was installed incor-
rectly. The toner is never opened and
poured into the hopper as described. As
instructed on the top of the cartridge, you
place the cartridge in the developer and
keep it there until it is empty. Once the
cartridge is locked in place, you pull a
Mylar strip from the right to release the
toner into the developer.

We strongly believe that by manufac-
turing the entire printer, including the
engine, we can maintain the highest level
of quality in our products, for which
Kyocera has been recognized for over 30
years. This quality has also been recog-
nized by both Unisys and Mannesmann
Tally, which chose to use our printer en-
gines.

Michelle Christian
Marketing Communications Manager
Kyocera Unison
Alameda, CA

We did follow the procedure you describe.
We locked the toner into place, pulled the
Mylar strip, and released the toner into
the developer. We were then required to
remove the toner receptacle before re-
placing the hopper. At that point, we
were exposed to any loose toner left in the
receptacle. That was the difference.
Printers using the Canon engine elimi-
nated the need to deal with the toner at
all. Even among those printers requiring
separate toner, the Kyocera Unison mod-
el was the only one that didn 't leave the
toner receptacle attached to the toner
cartridge. With the other printers , you at-
tach the toner and pull the strip, and the
dirty work is done.

We can see the advantages of manufac-
turing the entire printer. We just think
that buyers should make sure that ex-
pendables (e.g. , toner and drum) and up-
grades are readily available. In general,
third-party support adds value to any
product.

—Stanford Diehl and Stan Wszola

coniimieil

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Hiereare

three ways
toget

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printer

Printers. Cmnputers, Peripherals,
Copiers Typeimiters and Facsimiles

Panasonic.

Office Automation^^vA

When you want corporate- size
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Speed, fonts, flexibility. Eventhing you
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512K of memory expandable to a full
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Corporate-size features. Personal price.

Hie Panasonic
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When you have several peo ple in
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Lots of speed, lots of capacity, lots of
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The Panasonic
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What makes the company look
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When appearance is all, choose the
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The Panasonic
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□

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[Specifications are subject to change wilJiout notice. ]

LPF-BY

Circle 2 74 on Reader Service Card

ASK BYTE

ASK BYTE

Like, Squaresville, Man

I am wondering if all present computer
systems divide the display into so many
square pixels. If high resolution is impor-
tant, as in animation and CAD, then the
square tessellation of the display does not
seem to be the best choice.

There are only three regular tessella-
tions of a planar surface: covering the
surface with squares, with regular trian-
gles, or with regular hexagons. In any of
these cases, circles can be inscribed
within each of the polygons of a given
tessellation. This results in three differ-
ent methods of uniformly packing circles
on the plane. The sizes of the square, the
regular triangle, and the regular hexagon
can be chosen so that the circles are the
same size for all three methods of circle
packing. It is then fairly easy to show
that, for a given area of reasonable size,
the hexagonal tessellation leads to the
greatest number of circles of a given
radius.

These circles inscribed within the reg-
ular polygons correspond to the beam of
electrons that activates each pixel of the
CRT (when the brightness is adjusted
properly). A circle inscribed in a regular
hexagon covers over 90 percent of the
area of the hexagon. The same circle in-
scribed within a square will cover less
than 79 percent. Thus, the hexagonal tes-
sellation leads to about 15 percent more
pixels for a given area. This should indi-
cate a slightly better resolution for graph-
ics work. (The method of grouping the
pixels for the creation of a character set is
another matter.)

Thank you for any explanation that
you can give.

Lem Chastain
Brooklyn, NY

This is really a question for people who
design graphics systems, but I will join
you in supposition.

Perhaps the reason behind the rectilin-
ear pixel arrangement has to do with the
history of the most common display medi-
um: the CRT. The beam is sweeping left
to right in horizontal strokes. If the pixels
were shaped as hexagons, the beam
wouldn 't be able to sweep smoothly
across the display. Early TV grew from
black and white to color, and then com-
puters began painting pictures on TV dis-
plays through graphical display drivers.
We have always thought of display coor-
dinates as straight Cartesian (x, y) coor-
dinates, and making the changeover to
hexagons might freak people out. Still,

the increased resolution might be useful.

With display technology changing on a
daily basis, it would be relatively easy to
implement your approach in LCD, plas-
ma, or electroluminescent display tech-
nologies. Electronically, we drive the dis-
plays from banks of memory anyway, so
it 's just a matter of addressing the data to
the right cell. The only real difficulty
would be to get programmers to think in
hexagons. We would have to rewrite all
the line- and circle-drawing algorithms ,
get new versions of Microsoft Windows
and Macintosh Toolbox drivers, and so
on. Do any display manufacturers have
thoughts on this? It's an interesting idea,
and I hope that people remember that
they read it here first. Lem, if we receive
any royalty checks, we 'II be sure to pass
them along to you.— H. E.

A Storm in the Port

With IBM XT compatibles, it is a simple
matter to switch the turbo mode on or off
by reading a port (often at address 62
hexadecimal) and resetting 1 or more
bits, depending on the type of board.

I recently purchased an AT compatible
with the Texas Instruments AT chip set
and Award 286 Modular BIOS 3.03HD. I
would like to be able to switch the ma-
chine into and out of turbo mode using
this technique. Unfortunately, I do not
have any information on the speed set-
ting. Do you have any ideas on the
subject?

R. D. B. Fraser
Tewantin, Queensland, Australia

Unfortunately, you haven 't given me
enough information to completely answer
your question. The software control over
the turbo function is often handled by the
keyboard controller/microprocessor on a
PC-compatible machine. As you pointed
out, it's usually a matter of twiddling a
bit or two at an I/O port, usually in the
range 62h to 6Fh. According to Award,
the company has never made a version of
its BIOS for the Texas Instruments AT
chip set. Because of that, there's no way
that Award can tell you where the I/O
port is on your machine; that information
would have to come from the mother-
board manufacturer. If you want to send
your letter anyway, you can reach Award
at 130 Knowles Dr. , Los Gatos, CA
95030, or by fax at (408) 370-3399.

All is not lost. If your BIOS supports
speed-changing through the keyboard
(often Ctrl-Alt- -\- and Ctrl-Alt-- or Ctrl-
Alt- 1 and Ctrl-Alt-2), you can find the
port by tracing through the BIOS in the
debugger. The address of the keyboard
handler (INT09h) is 0000:0024. Get that

address (probably in the FOOO segment)
and disassemble the code. If you are
lucky, you 'II find an OUT instruction to a
port in the 60h-6Fh range. When you
find something interesting, write a short
test program to twiddle the bits, and see
what happens.

Finding that I/O port is a good rainy-
day activity, one that should keep you en-
tertained for hours. Be prepared to reboot
often; it 's likely that if you tweak the
wrong bit on the keyboard controller,
you 'II totally mess up your machine.

-H. E.

Frantically Foraging for Fractint

Would you please let me know how or
where I can obtain information on a pro-
gram named Fractint?

Arthur Trantolo
East Hartford, CT

Fractint is a public domain fractal dis-
play program by Bert Tyler and a few
other hotshot programmers. Source code
and executable copies are available on
BIX, CompuServe, and many BBSes; its
latest release is version 14. 0.

If you have trouble obtaining the pro-
gram on-line, contact the author at Tyler
Software (124 Wooded Lane, Villanova,
PA 19085). -S. A.

Missing Manuals

In July 1989, I bought a 20-MHz Arch
Tech 386 Tower Computer from Tech
Center in Boulder, Colorado, and the
system has worked great. My problem is
that not all the manuals were in the
boxes. I thought you might be able to give
me some good ideas on how best to ad-
dress the problem.

For the last year, I have been trying to
get the manuals from the people at Tech
Center, but I have had no response from
them. I guess that's because they know I
am a foreigner, and they think that there
is no marketing benefit in helping me. I
have thought of addressing Arch Tech di-
rectly to purchase the manuals, but I do
not want the company to think that I want
the documentation to duplicate its system
here. Also, I do not have Arch Tech's
address.

How should I address this problem?

Francisco Bascijnan Noguera
Santiago, Chile

I 'm glad to hear that you 're enjoying your
new machine. Unfortunately, without
more information, I can 't help you track
down manuals for it. The Boulder phone
book doesn 't list any business under the
name Tech Center, and I ended up speak-
ing with several people who work for

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 39

ASK BYTE

companies with similar-sounding names
(thanks to all who helped!). If that's the
correct and full company name, perhaps
it 's out of business now.

I'm more concerned about the name on
your computer. No one seems to have
heard of a computer built under the name
Arch Tech. Perhaps your machine is from
Arche Technologies? In that case, you
can reach Arche at 48881 Kato Rd. , Fre-
mont, CA 94539. (415) 623-8100. Be
specific with the exact configuration and
model numbers of your system compo-
nents. I'm reasonably convinced that
your experience was simply the result of
bad communication, not because you're
a foreigner. Companies that do business
that way simply don 't stay around very
long.—H. E.

More on Fractint

A number of years ago, I obtained a disk
displaying Mandelbrot fractals from
BYTE. Now I have obtained Fractint ver-
sion 12.0, but I have a problem.

I have an Olivetti M24 computer that I
understand is equivalent to an AT&T
6300 computer. Mine is fitted with CGA
and a color monitor. The computer has
been upgraded using Sota 286i and is
also fitted with an 80287 math copro-
cessor.

My problem: Using Fractint, I get only
four colors. With WordStar, Turbo Pas-
cal, Paradox, Quattro Pro, and GW-
BASIC, I can obtain all the colors I desire
on the screen.

By the way, I am having the same
problem using Flight Simulator 3, but
not using the American version of Tetris.
I have been a subscriber to BYTE for the
last four years, and I have become aware
of your sympathetic approach to reader
problems.

J. Yodaiken
Cape Town, South Africa

Unfortunately, CGA graphics capability
hits its peak at four colors. The other ap-
plications that you mention are text-mode
programs and provide more colors by
using characters to make up the screens.
Quattro Pro will also run in graphics
mode, but it will then give you the same
four-color limitation.

I am not familiar with the Tetris pro-
gram that you mention, but again, I sus-
pect it is a text-mode application. Obvi-
ously, text mode is not appropriate for
detail-intensive programs like Fractint
and Flight Simulator.

If you spend any time at all running
graphics software, you may want to look
into upgrading to a VGA system; the dif-
ference will be startling. — S. A.

I Just See Stars

I recently bought a new machine, and I
was a bit dismayed to find my spread-
sheet files full of stars when I tried to use
them. All the labels were there intact, but
no numbers. It didn't take too long to fig-
ure out the cause; I had to deal with simi-
lar problems on my old machine as well.
The software thinks the machine has a
numeric coprocessor, but it doesn't, so
all the numbers are garbage.

Most software packages with the capa-
bility to use a coprocessor run a short
routine at start-up that asks the copro-
cessor to store the control word (FSTCW)
or the status word (FSTSW) into memory.
If this works (i.e., if the value in the
memory location is changed or is a valid
value), then the software assumes you
have a coprocessor and uses it thereafter
to do numeric operations.

Both the machines that I have owned
will return values when asked to do one
or other of the above operations, and I
know several other people who have run
into this type of problem. Where does the
fauh lie?

Why do software companies include
such flimsy and potentially fallible
checks for the 80x87 in their software
and compilers? I started getting weird
numbers in my spreadsheets one time be-
cause the 80287 was half out of its socket
after I'd been messing around putting in
a board. It still passed the check for pres-
ence, even though half the pins were not
connected. Why doesn't the routine
check the results of a division or a multi-
plication?

Jon Waterhouse
St. John 's, Newfoundland, Canada

If your spreadsheet software (whose
name you fail to mention) checks for a co-
processor in the way you describe, then
you 're right to feel dismayed. Most soft-
ware will look for a coprocessor via the
BIOS equipment check interrupt (11 hex-
adecimal). This interrupt returns a word
full of flags that is set by your machine 's
power-on self test routines. How the
POST routine does its job probably varies
from BIOS to BIOS. Some machines re-
quire you to install a jumper whenever
you install a coprocessor, and in that
case the BIOS may simply look for the
presence of that jumper. Also, AT-class
machines expect a flag set in the nonvola-
tile CMOS RAM indicating the presence
of a coprocessor. Have you checked your
machine for either of these possibilities ?

Finally, if you want to know how soft-
ware can detect and identify an 80x87 co-
processor, look for BYTE's March 1988
issue. Prakash Chandra of Intel shows

assembly language source code in his ar-
ticle "Programming the 80387 Copro-
cessor. " — R. G.

PostScript Preview

I 'm trying to find a PC program that will
let you preview, one page at a time, the
contents of a text file as it would appear
when printed on a LaserWriter Plus.

This program would be used by stu-
dents of the Chisolm Institute of Tech-
nology to print their assignments. At
present, we have a program that converts
files from various word processing pro-
grams to PostScript. This transformed
file is then sent to the LaserWriter Plus
for printing.

There is a shortcoming with this ar-
rangement. After you've committed the
text file to laser printing, there is no turn-
ing back. Consequently, students can
lose a lot of money on wasted printing.

Graham Brown
Dromana, Victoria, Australia

Most word processing programs these
days will support PostScript. You should
call the vendors of the various word pro-
cessing programs and ask for a PostScript
driver. At the same time, ask if the pro-
gram has a preview mode. Many word
processors will either show you what the
printed output will look like on-screen or
will print the output to a disk file. As long
as you have a PostScript driver installed,
the preview should look exactly like the
final printed output. If you can find driv-
ers, this would be your best bet.

Another solution is a PostScript inter-
preter. The primary purpose of a Post-
Script interpreter is to convert PostScript
files so that they can be printed on non-
PostScript printers. Although you would
not need one for this purpose, a Post-
Script interpreter might include a preview
mode as well, so you could use such a
program to see how the final printed page
will appear. LaserGo (9369 Carroll Park
Dr. , Suite A, San Diego, CA 92121, 800-
955-3668) should be able to help you.
The company's GoScript program will
display PostScript on EGA or VGA moni-
tors. It will also display TIF and PCX
files.— S. D.

FIXES

In "Faster Gets Smaller" (August),
Compaq inadvertently provided BYTE
with the wrong FCC rating for the Desk-
pro 386/25e. The correct rating is FCC
Class B, not Class A. ■

40 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Here's what they say
about Zortech C+ +

" Zortech is a truly fine compiler... If you've
been waiting for a major player to offer a
professional C++ development system for
OS/2 and Windows, as well as DOS,
wait no longer... Zortech has it! "

Richard Hale Shaw, PC Magazine, p.38, March 1 3, 1 990

" Zortech C++ is one of the best MS-DOS

products I've had the luck to use I can

highly recommend the Zortech 2.0 release."

Scott Robert Ladd, Dr. Dobbs Journal, pp. 64-73, January 1 990

"' Zortech has done a commendable job
with C-I-+ 2.0 and I recommend it
highly.. .The debugger is impressive. ..Get the
Developers version. ..it's worth the money."

Bruce Eckel, Micro Cornucopia, pp. 8-17, March 1 990

"We have devoted virtually a full issue to evalua-
tion of C Compilers .... it's an easy choice. We
pick ZORTECH."

J. D. Hilderbrand, Editor, Computer Longjoge, p. 7, May 1990

AT&T™ C++ V2
Specif/cat/on

/ Multiple Inheritance
yiype Safe Linkage
y Pointers to Members

Compiler Features

y Native code compiler with
separate global optimzer
y Improved MSC Source

Level Compatibility
y MS Windows'"" Compatible
/ CodeView™ Compatible
/ Fast Graphics Library with

C+ + interface
y Easy to use TSR functions
/ Standard Library Source
Code included with
Developer's Edition
y Seamless LIM/EMS
Support via new handle
pointers or directly via
EMS library functions,
y Full MS Mouse Library
y OS/2 Compiler Option
/ 99% ANSI C Compatible
y Improved code size/speed

PRICES

C++ Compiler $199.95
C++ Debugger $149.95
C++ Tools $149.95
Library Source $149.95
Save $200 - Get the
Developer's Edition for
only $450 (includes all the
above items).
OS/2 Option $149.95
C++ Video $499.95

C+ + Source Level
Debugger

/A/so Debugs C
/ Assembler Debugging
with access to registers
and memory.
/ 1 6 Debugging V/indows
/ Multiple Statement Lines
/ Break/Trace/Watchpoints
y Dual Monitor Support
/ Full C+ + name

unmangling for easy use
V Block memory write protect

C+ + Tools Classes

y 25 C+ + Classes with full

source code
■/ Includes new Text User

Interface Classes
y Event Queue, BCD Maths,
Linked Lists, Money, DOS
error handling classes,
text windows and editing
classes, virtual arrays,
time and date handling,
directories and filenames,
interupt vectors, etc...

USA: Zortech Inc.
4-C Gill Street
WOBURN MA01801
Voice: 617-937-0696
Fax; 617-937-0793

EUROPE: Zortech Ltd.
106-108 Powis Street
LONDON SE18 6LU
Voice: 44+ 81-316-7777
Fax: 44+ 81-316-4138

"ANNOUNCING V2. 7 "

640K Memory Barrier Smoshedl

• New VCM ™ (Virtual Code
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• New Rational DOS Extender
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debugging massive programs

• New Virtual C+ + Source
Level Debugger requires only
4k RAM!

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• New Powerful Environment
with Browser

• New Completely Revised
& Expanded C+ + Tools

• New Improved Compiler
Optimization

Zortech VCM'" for DOS

With Zortech's Virtual Code Manager (VCM) you can compile standard
MS-DOS applications containing up to 4Mb of code. VCM is a sophisticated
virtual memory system that dramatically improves performance over
conventional overlay methods. Naturally, our debugger understands VCM too!

Rationar" DOS Extender Technology-
Version 2. ] incorporates this new technology for compiling and debugging
really big programs on 286, 386 or 486 based PC's. You can also use V2. 1
together with Rational Systems DOS Extender (purchased separately) to
produce your own applications which can access memory beyond the 640k
DOS limit.

C+ + Debugger in 4k RAM!

Zortech's Virtual C++ Source Level Debugger can now locate itself in extended
memory on 386 machines. This requires only 4K of conventional RAM!

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NEWS FLASH

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ORDER/UPGRADE HOTLINE 1-800-848-8408

186SX nuMi-Task Force

Launch and run two, three, four or more programs simultaneously. Blast the 640K memory barrier to cut
even the most massive programs down to size. And, rocket through spreadsheets, word processing,
desktop publishing and more with lightning-fast 1 6MHz, 32-bit speed. With this new BSR 386SX computer
and your FREE bonus Microsoft Windows 3.0, you'll infuse your computing with the time- and work-
annihilating might of true multi-tasking and 386SX power. PLUS, you get $2,850 worth of FREE NAME-
BRAND software. Plus, as an added Super Bonus, you also get $495 Quattro Pro. You 'II be armed and ready
to assault any business, learning and creative project, all for DAK's industry-busting price of just $ 1, 799.

By Drew Kaplan BSR 16MHz 386SX Computer with 1 full this work- vanquishing, time-saving, pro-

Get ready to unleash breakthrough megabyte of RAM, massive 28 millisecond ductivity-enhancing 386SX computer,
computing power. Imagine writing a sales hard drive and .31 dot pitch VGA monitor. ANATOMY OF A 386SX

report with your word processor while simul- It's the most powerful, fully-loaded com-
taneously recalculating a spreadsheet. '

Imagine running massive desktop pub-
lishing programs with plenty of RAM to
spare. And, imagine blazing through all
your computer work with lightning-fast
16MHz 32-bit speed all for just $1,799.

Sound like a fantasy? With most com-
puters it would be. But, not with this new

puter DAK has ever offered.

Plus, with the included Microsoft Win-
dows 3.0 and $2,850 worth of additional
FREE bonus software (including WordStar
5.5), you'll be armed to make short work of
any computer project.

Read on and together we'll explore all
the amazing feats you'll accomplish with

At the heart of this new BSR 386SX com-
puter is the latest 386SX microprocessor.

Unlike a 286 microprocessor (found in
AT computers), which processes informa-
tion in 16-bit chunks, a 386SX can process
information in 32-bit chunks. So, it can
handle more than twice the information a
standard 286 can, in less time. Wow!

Plus, you'll be able to run the latest 386 pro-
grams and all PC/AT compatible programs.

This 16MHz, 0-wait state speed demon
can calculate spreadsheets, reformat desk-
top publishing documents and run any of
the FREE programs in record time.

But, if you're like me, you use your com-
puter mostly for word processing. So you
might not be too concerned with speed. I
wasn't either, until 1 pitted my old 286
against the BSR 386SX.

I spell-checked the same 50-page report
on both computers. 1 was astounded to dis-
cover that the 386SX spell-checked the
document over a minute faster.

A single minute may not seem like much,
but when you think of how many reports,
letters and proposals you spell-check in
one week, those minutes add up.

Plus, just wait till you see how quickly
this 386SX boots up, and how fast you'll
run through complex spreadsheets like

■■■

l&SJ 386SX/T6

/ J J J J i_ I I 1 I

r 1^ / ' I' i' I" i" r r *: "1
/////// I / r

/////// I I I I

r r I I I / r r 1 ^

INCLUDED BONUS SOFTWARE

Retail Price

Microsoft Windows 3.0 $149

Quattro Pro $495

WordStar 5.5 Professional $495

Reflex 2.0 $249

Gem Desktop Publisher $299

Gem Graph $299

Gem Draw Plus $299

Gem WordChart $199

SideKick $ 89

Key FormDesigner $179

KeyMailer $149

Three-Button Mouse $ 99

Grammatik IV $ 99

PC Paintbrush $ 99

PC USA $ 69

Keyboard/Keypad Trainer $ 69

KeyDictionary $ 99

WordFinder $ 59

It's $3,494 worth of BONUS software
included with your BSR 386SX computer !

Quattro Pro. But, speed is just one small
part of the sheer might of this fantastic 386SX.
DOWNTIME DECIMATOR

The true power of this BSR 386SX
is its astounding memory handling
capability. It shatters the 640K
RAM barrier which shackles
286 computers.
No longer will you be limited
to the old DOS standard of
640K RAM. Sure, some 286

With your FREE included three-button mouse you'll
zoom through databases, desktop publishing and
word processing at meteoric speed.

computers have 1 meg or more of RAM.
But, most programs don't actually use it.

But, with your 386SX and a memory-
managing program like the incredible
Microsoft Windows 3.0, (yours absolutely
FREE), you'll use all of this computer's 1
full meg of RAM (or 2 full megs with op-
tional upgrade for just $79'°).

Now you can run high-performance busi-
ness spreadsheets, (like your just-released
Quattro Pro bonus), huge databases (such
as Reflex 2.0) and desktop publishers (like
the included GEM Desktop Publisher, com-
plete with Gem Graph, Gem Draw Plus
and Gem WordChart) with ease.

And, look at this. With your 386SX and
Microsoft Windows 3.0, you'll be able to
multi-task. That means you can run several
programs simultaneously and transfer in-
formation between most programs.

For example, you can work on a sales
report with the included WordStar 5.5 and
then instantly pull up Quattro Pro to dou-
ble check your sales figures without exit-
ing WordStar. It's a real time-saver.

You can even 'cut' figures directly from
Quattro Pro and automatically 'paste' them
into your report, on-screen.

And, wait till you discover multi-tasking.
With Microsoft Windows 3.0 this 386SX
computer can do the work of several ordi-
nary computers* concurrently.

Forget having your computer tied up
while it recalculates a spreadsheet or for-
mats and prints out a complex desktop
publishing document. Your 386SX obliter-
ates downtime forever.

THE COMPUTER OF THE FUTURE

The experts like PC Magazine and Info-
world agree that the 386 is the future stan-
dard. And, most of the new programs
developed over the next few years will be
created for 386-compatible computers.

So, with your BSR 386SX you'll already

by prepared for the future of computing
with full 386 compatibility. Plus, you'll
have complete 286 compatibility too.
LOADED WITH COMPUTING POWER

This awesome computer comes fully-
armed with an arsenal of work-annihilating
features. With other computer companies,
most of these features are optional. But,
they're all standard on your 386SX.

14" VGA Monitor (Standard). With its
phenomenal 640 X 480 (.31 dot pitch),
slide-like resolution, this easy-on-the-eyes,
non-glare 14" color VGA monitor is the
most brilliant I've ever seen.

Plus, just wait till you see how the palette
of 256,000 colors can make all your graphs,
charts, paintings and even word processing
and spreadsheets explode off the screen
with sharp, vivid power.

And, with the included tilt swivel moni-
tor base, you can easily adjust the monitor
to the perfect viewing angle for you.

40-Megabyte Hard Drive (Standard).
The powerbase behind your work-vanquish-
ing 386SX is a mammoth super-fast, 28-
millisecond, 16-bit, 40-megabyte hard drive.

You'll have the informational storage
power of over 110 traditional floppy disks
to save all of your creations and programs
with plenty of room to spare.

And, if you're running a company or
need all the storage space you can get, you
can upgrade to a colossal 80-megabyte hard
drive for just $199'".

1 Full Megabyte of RAM (Standard).
You'll have plenty of power to run even the
most massive memory-devouring programs
with the included 1 megabyte of high-speed
RAM (expandable to up to 8 megabytes on
the motherboard), complete with LIM 4.0
emulation capability.

And, you can upgrade to 2 megabytes of
RAM for virtually unlimited multi-tasking
power for just $79'".

Both 51/4" AND 31/2" Floppy Drives (Stan-
dard) . You get two floppy drives with your
BSR 386SX computer.

First, there's a 1.2MB, high-density SV4"
floppy disk drive. You can store nearly 4
times more information on a 1 .2MB floppy
than you can on a standard 360K floppy.

And, you can still use and exchange 360K
floppies with less sophisticated computer
users than yourself.

Plus, there's also a 1.44MB high-density
3V2" floppy disk drive, so you can easily

switch floppies between your 386SX and
the latest IBM computers and even 1 .44MB
and 720K laptop computers.

4 Expansion Slots. With its 4 expansion
slots (3 available), your 386SX is engineered
to grow with your computing needs.

You'll have plenty of room to add a fax
card, a scanner card or a voice-mail card.

NOTE: This computer's advanced 386
motherboard requires only a cool-running
145 watt power supply, so you'll have plenty
of power for expansion cards.

Serial, Parallel and Mouse Ports (Stan-
dard). You'll have two serial ports to use
with serial devices. You get a parallel port
for printer hook-up.

And, there's a mouse port for your included
3-button bus mouse (more later).

101 -Key Extended Keyboard (Stan-
dard). Virtually all interaction with your
computer is through the keyboard. That's
why this breakthrough computer comes
with the newest extended keyboard com-
plete with separate arrow/cursor keys.

You'll never have to hunt through the
number keys to find the cursor keys again.

Plus, the solid feel of the sculptured keys
ends finger fatigue forever. Whether you
'hunt & peck' or type 90 words-per-minute,
you'll really appreciate the tactile feedback
of this high-quality keyboard.

MS DOS 3.31 and GW-Basic (Standard).
It amazes me how many retailers sell com-
puters without DOS and Basic. At DAK, you
get everything to have your computer up
and running right away.

Special Note: DOS 3.31 breaks the 32
meg hard disk size limitation, so you can
use your 40 meg (or optional 80 meg) hard
drive without cumbersome partitions.

Clock/Calendar with Battery Back-Up
and More. Plus, this extraordinary com-
puter has a clock/calendar with battery back-
up, a front panel reset switch and 80387
math co-processor socket, 8MHz/16MHz
switching and dozens more features.
ON-SITE SERVICE

With a lot of companies, once you buy a
computer, you're on your own. If you're
lucky, they'll give you a 90-day warranty.

But, your BSR 386SX computer is backed
by a 12-month, on-site standard limited
warranty. You'll receive in-home or in-office
service anywhere in the continental United
States. You're totally protected.

(Next Page Please . . .

HuMi-Tasking Explained

If s called multi-tasking. And, if s revolutionizing the way we work with computers. What 'multi-tasking' means is you can run several pro-
grams at the same time. For example, you can have a spreadsheet program like Quattro Pro run calculations while you use a word processor Uke
WordStar 5.5 to write a letter or report. Plus, you can 'pull-up' other programs WITHOUT exiting the program you're working in. If s a real
time-saver if you switch programs a lot. Here's just one example of how you can use multi-tasking to blast through your work.

1. Let's say you're the sales manager
for a company or you own your own
business. You're writing a report with
WordStar 5.5. As you work, you
decide to double-check some figures
in your Quattro Pro spreadsheet.

2. Without exiting WordStar, you
pull up Quattro Pro in another win-
dow. Now you can check your spread-
sheet and even cut figures from
Quattro Pro and paste them directly
into your WordStar report.

3. Next, you decide to check the per-
formance of your sales people. With-
out exiting WordStar or Quattro Pro,
you pull up Reflex 2.0 in a third win-
dow. Nowyou can easily scroll through
your sales database.

4. After you've confirmed all your
figures, (and cut and pasted just the
onesyou need into your report), with
a click of your mouse, you pull the
WordStar window to the front of the
screen and finish writing your report.

. . . 386SX Multi-Task Continued)
Plus, you get DAK's own toll-free soft-
ware support lines, manned with fielpful,
knowledgeable DAKonians ready to answer
all of your software questions.

WHYBSR?
DAKonians know about BSR through
their audiophile stereo equipment. But,
what most people don't know is that BSR
was one of the world's leading manufac-
turers of computer power supplies.

And, this new BSR 386SX follows in that
same industry-leading tradition. Plus, be-
cause of DAK's direct-from-the-factory pur-
chase, I got a fantastic price.

Now you can command all the comput-
ing muscle of a fully-loaded 386SX for less
than the price of many 286 computers.

And, lef s not forget your Super Bonus
$495 Quattro Pro. Plus, Miaosoft Windows
3.0 and the $2,850 worth of brand-name
computer software (including WordStar 5.5,
Gem Publisher, Key FormDesigner and
more) you get absolutely FREE.

COMMAND A 386SX
MULTI-TASK FORCE
RISK FREE
Wait till you experience the blinding
speed of 16Mhz, 32-bit computing. Wait
till you cut and paste information between
two different programs with ease. And, wait
till you work on two, three, four or even
more programs concurrently.

If you're not completely thrilled simply
return it to DAK in its original box within
30 days for a courteous refund.

To order Your Work Annihilating 16MHz,
32-Bit 386SX Multi-Task Force complete
with Massive 40-Megabyte, Super-Fast 28-
Millisecond, 16-Bit Hard Drive, 1 Full Meg
of RAM (upgradable to 8 Megs), 1.2 Mega-
byte 51/4" Floppy Drive, 1 .44 Megabyte 3 1/2"
Disk Drive, 14" Slide-Like .31 Dot Pitch
Color VGA Monitor with Tilt Swivel Base,
Advanced DOS 3.31 and GW-Basic, PLUS
Microsoft Windows 3.0, PLUS $495 Quat-
tro Pro, PLUS $2,850 worth of the Name
Brand Software Bonuses AND 12-Month
On-Site Service Warranty, call toll free or
send your check for DAK's industry-busting
price of just $1,799 ($69 P&H). Order No.
6335. CA res add tax.

Options

RAM BREAKTHROUGH OPTION
Turbo-charge your 386SX with even
more multi-tasking power by upgrad-
ing to a full 2-megabytes RAM for just
$79'" ($0 P&H). Order No. 6336. Note:
The RAM upgrade must be ordered
with your computer.
8(KMEGABYIE HARD DRIVE OPTION
Now you can have an enormous 80
megabytes of hard disk space to store all
your work and programs f or j ust $ 1 99'"
($0 P&H). Order No. 6337. Note: The
hard disk upgrade must be ordered
with your computer.

You'll command the power to run
two, three, four or even more programs
concurrently. And, with the $3,494
worth of included name-brand software
you'll be armed and ready to vanquish
any computing task. E

Blll^lf INDUSTRIES

Call Toll Free For Credit Card Orders Only
24 Hours A Day 7 Days A Week

I-800-115-0800

ForToU Free Information, Call 5AM-5PM Mondav-Fridav PST

Technical Information 1-800-888-9818

Any Other Inquiries 1-800-888-7808

8200 Remmet Ave., Canoga Park, CA 91304

Here's a preview of just a few
of the name-brand software
programs included with your BSR
386SX computer.

Quattro Pro com-
bines BIG corpor-
ation spreadsheet
power with vivid
graphics. You can
analyze, forecast
and print out your
data in numbers
and 3-D charts.

Must Look

WordStar 5.5 has
over 300 work-sav-
ing enhancements,
including easy-to-
use Pull-Down
Menus that oblit-
erate keyboard com-
mands.

With Reflex 2.0
database, you can
organize, analyze
and even display
your crucial busi-
ness data in 6 dif-
ferent ways includ-
ing form. List, Graph
and Crosstab views

You can easily
create reports, pro-
posals, newsletters
and more with
charts, drawings,
graphs and multi-
ple font styles with
the Gem Desktop
Publishing System.

Teaching Kids

Sitfely Training al Schtx)! :^
ImpnA Ci Safety ill I !ome

Gem Graph's vivid
3-D bar graphs, pie
charts, symbol
graphs and line
charts will infuse
your reports, pro-
posals and presen-
tations with explo-
sive visual power.

With the touch of
a hotkey, KeyDic-
tionary, with 115,-
000 on-line, full
definitions, gives
you instant answers
to questions about
word meanings,
spelling, usage and
hyphenation.

\KeyMailer's fill-in-
the-blank format is
the easy way to create
extensive mailing-
list data bases and
thousands of per-
sonalized letters com-
plete with address
labels.

It's a cinch to illus-
trate any graphic
from a professional
organization chart
to a Mojave Desert
Sunset with PC
Paintbrush's icons
and pull-down
menus

Lef s take a quick look at the $3,494 worth
of name-brand software programs included
with your BSR 386SX computer.

SUPER BONUS Quattro Pro
($495 Value)
Now aU of us small businessmen can take ad-
vantage of BIG corporation spreadsheet power
without needing a degree in accounting.

Top-rated Quattro Pro can effortlessly
lay out a financial strategy for you. And,
you'll see it in numbers, dollars and 3-D
graphs on-screen or printed out.

Plus, Quattro Pro's new VROOMM (Vir-
tual Realtime Object-Oriented Memory
Manager) reads and writes even the largest
Lotus files without translation.
FREE BONUS #1 Microsoft Windows 3.0
($149 Value)
We've already explored the incredible
memory managing, multi-tasking, and 'cut
& paste' abilities of Windows 3 .0. But it can
do so much more.

It obliterates complex DOS commands
with an easy-to-use icon-based environ-
ment. You can launch any installed DOS or
Windows-based program merely by dou-
ble-clicking your included mouse on an
icon. It's a real time-saver.

Plus, you also get a file manager, a print
manager and much more to help you finish
all your computer work easier, faster and
better than ever before possible.

FREE BONUS #2 WordStar 5.5
($495 Value)
WordStar 5.5 has over 300 new features
and enhancements to make writing power-
ful letters, reports and proposals a breeze.

The instant you fire-up WordStar, you
can type a letter, add bold, italics and under-
line. If s easy with the Pull-Down Menus.

With Editing Windows, you can edit two
documents simultaneously. You can even
copy and move text between them.

Plus, you can view up to 32 pages at once
with the Advanced Page Preview. So, you
can check page centering, margins and
layout t)e£ore you print.

FREE BONUS #3 Reflex 2.0
($249 Value)
It's the easiest and most powerful flat-file
database I've ever used. Now you can store
and organize all your critical business, club
or personal data quickly and easily.

Plus, top-rated Reflex can also turn your
raw data into attention-grabbing pie, line
bar and scatter graphs that instantly give
you the meanings behind the numbers.

And, you can instantly cut and paste
information from Reflex directly into your
word processor or spreadsheet. Reflex is a
quick and easy way to compare, summarize
and analyze all your vital data.
FREE BONUS #4 Key FormDesigner

($179 Value)
Create any type of form from simple per-
sonalized appointment book pages to com-
plex inventory control forms. Imagine
easily designing purchase orders, employ-
ment applications, ledger sheets and more.

With Key FormDesigner, you can custom-
tailor forms to your EXACT needs. In
minutes, you can produce new, more effi-
cient forms for the whole company, for
your department, or just for you.

And, you can print out your customized
forms on any dot-matrix, ink jet or laser
printer. Best of all, you'll never need to wait

At All You Qet FREE

weeks or pay for custom forms again.
FREE BONUS #5 Sidekick
($89 Value)

Sidekick is a powerful desktop organizer
that puts 4 essential business tools right at
your fingertips. You get an electronic note-
pad so you can take down notes easily.

There's an on-line, pop-up calculator and
a perpetual calendar/appointment scheduler,
too. Plus, with Sidekick's phone book, you
can store all your frequently called modem
numbers in an on-line directory that dials
the numbers for you.
FREE BONUS #6 Gem Desktop Publisher
($299 Value)

Now you can create spectacular brochures,
multi-columned newsletters, graphic-packed
manuals, mind-grabbing reports and even
your own magazines right at your desk.

With just the click of a mouse, you'll
insert maps, diagrams, schematics, artwork,
logos and graphs into any document. And,
you'll compose eye-catching professional
reports, articles and academic papers.
FREE BONUS #7 Gem Graph
($299 Value)

Now you can easily create dazzling re-
ports, proposals and brochures filled with
attention-grabbing 3-D graphs and charts.

Wait till you see all the two and even
three dimensional bar graphs, pie charts,
and comparative line charts that jump off
the page with sit-up-and-take-notice power.

You can choose from a huge selection of
graph and text styles (including striking 3-
D), to add that extra amount of punch to
really drive your point home.

FREE BONUS #8 Gem WordChart
($199 Value)

What Gem Graph does with numbers.
Gem WordChart does with words. Create
extensive fact tables for sales reports.

Make bullet charts to add graphic impact
to your presentations and proposals. And,
even make eye-grabbing sale fliers for your
business that will have customers streaming
in. It's a cinch to create everything from
party invitations to menus.

FREE BONUS #9 Gem Draw Plus
($299 Value)
You can effortlessly design anything
from simple floor plans to complicated elec-
trical schematics. Create graphics for club
newsletters. And, you can even draw flow
charts and organizational charts with ease.

There's also a full library of pre-drawn
clip art that you can insert directly into
your documents. Plus, Gem Draw Plus is
object-oriented. So, for example, if you
overlay a circle with a square, they mix on the
screen but are kept separate in the memory.

Gem Draw Plus is the easy way to trans-
form your ideas into vivid drawings.
FREE BONUS #10 PC USA
($69 Value)

You'll command a wealth of vivid gra-
phics and fact-filled tables packed with
current and historical information on all
the 50 states and even Puerto Rico.

You'll have instant access to beautifully
detailed state maps showing elevations,
cities and geographical features. You'll easily
pinpoint distances between cities.

And, you'll effortlessly access statistics
on population and age distribution, health,
crime, tourist attractions, climate trends,
taxes, state histories and much more— ail

with a touch of a button.

FREE BONUS #11 KeyMailer
($ 149 Value)

With KeyMailer's menu-driven, fill-in-
the-blank format, anyone can create an
extensive mailing-list database.

Now you can print out envelope labels,
telephone directories and even merge your
data with WordStar to effortlessly make
and send 100, 1,000 or even 10,000 per-
sonalized letters for your business or club.
FREE BONUS #12
Keyboard/Keypad Trainer
($69 Value)

Here's an easy way to increase your typ-
ing speed and finish your work 25%, 50%
or even 100% faster.

This amazing breakthrough program
uses Artificial Intelligence (Al) to tailor
exercises to your learning needs. Plus, you'll
have customized AI lessons for your com-
puter's numeric keypad, too.

FREE BONUS #13 Grammatik IV
($99 Value)

Grammatik IV uses 42 grammar rules to
automatically check all your reports, essays
and everything you write.

You'll never worry about incomplete
sentences, punctuation errors or using 'it's'
instead of 'its,' 'they're instead of 'their,' or
'two' instead of 'too.' Grammatik IV never
changes your writing. Whether you use its
advice or not is completely up to you.

FREE BONUS #14 KeyDictionary
($99 Value)

With 115,000 full, on-line definitions
complete with hyphenation and usage rules,
this awesome electronic dictionary makes
writing captivating documents a breeze.

You can instantly define words, in or out
of word processing, with just the touch of a
hot key. Plus, you can even define words
within definitions and spell-checker and
thesaurus suggestions.

FREE BONUS #15 WordFinder
($59 Value)

Infuse (penetrate, instill, inject) the power
of WordFinder's instant-access 220,000-
word Thesaurus into your reports, pro-
posals and contracts. It's great.

Now everything you write, from 50-page
reports to 1-page memos will be filled with
passionate (enthusiastic, fiery, intense)
persuasion to really get your ideas across.

FREE BONUS # 16 PC Paintbrush
($99 Value)

With PC Paintbrush, you'll unleash your
creativity with computer-generated shapes,
designs, patterns and drawings.

You'll have 5 different brush shapes, a
paint roller, computerized air brush, and a
palette of up to 16 colors to create and
print-out everything from breathtaking
landscapes to company logos.
FREE BONUS #17 Three-Button Mouse
($99 Value)

Obliterate clumsy keyboard commands.
From drawing and painting to accessing
menus and windows to controlling the
cursor, you'll do it all infinitely easier and
faster with the new BSR 3-button bus mouse.
$3,494 Of Softwaie FREE

You get it all, a total of $3,494 worth of
software and hardware (including Micro-
soft Windows 3.0, PLUS $495 Quattro Pro),
PLUS the BSR 16Mhz 386SX Computer with
VGA monitor for just $1,799.

And, here's just a sample of
what you can do with all of
your FREE name-brand
software programs.

If

"dCbiUTempe
i Table

SOft-i

INC.

BJA|f MDUSTRIES
■pMb m — —

Call Toll Free For Credit Card Orders Only
24 Hours A Day 7 Days A Week

l-800-lt5-08P0

For Toll free Information, Call 6AM-5F^ Monday-Friday PST
Technical Information ...1-800-888-981 8

Any Other Inquiries 1-800-888-7808

8200 Remmet Ave., Catioga Park, CA 91 304

WHAT'S New

The 1550sx is the latest in GRiD's line of laptops. This one
features the rolling Isopoint device shown here.

Isopoint Device
Makes a Case
for GRiD

The GRiDCase 1550sx is
the first PC-compatible
laptop to use the built-in Iso-
point device. Also unique to
the 20-MHz 386SX laptop is
a 60-MB hard disk drive with
Windows 3.0 installed.

The Isopoint device takes
the place of a mouse and is
built into the keyboard below
the space bar. The Isopoint
buttons are accessible to both
right- and left-handed users.

The hard disk drive has an
access time of 16 ms and a
64K-byte memory cache.
Also standard on the 12-pound
laptop are 2 MB of RAM and
a 3 '/4-inch 1.44-MB floppy
disk drive. The screen is a
film-twisted-nematic backlit
LCD VGA. The internal/
external battery has a rated
life of 2 hours and charges in
2'/^ hours, according to
GRiD. The system measures
11 1/4 by 15 by 2 V4 inches.
Options include a 120-MB

hard disk drive, a 600-MB
CD-ROM drive, a 2400-bps
modem, an 80387SX math co-
processor, and an external
rechargeable battery.
Price: Base system, $6295.
Contact: GRiD Systems
Corp., 4721 1 Lakeview Blvd.,
P.O. Box 5003, Fremont, CA
94537, (800) 222-4743 or
(415) 656-4700.
Inquiry 1290.

Things Are Getting
Small in Texas

The new Tandy 1500 HD,
a notebook computer that
weighs 6 pounds, comes
standard with a 1.44-MB flop-
py disk drive and a 20-MB
hard disk drive for less than
$2000.

The 1500 HD, which mea-
sures 10 by \2Yi by I'/o inches,
has a backlit screen, a 10-
MHz NEC V-20 processor,
and 640K bytes of RAM (ex-
pandable to 1 .64 MB). The
system also comes with DOS
3.3 and Tandy's DeskMate
graphical user interface in-
stalled on the hard disk drive.

The blue-on-white LCD
screen provides a resolution of
640 by 200 pixels (CGA).
The removable nickel-cadmi-
um battery weighs % pound
and recharges in as little as 4
hours, according to Tandy.
An AC adapter is also included

with the 1500 HD.
Price: $1999.

Contact: Tandy Corp., 1800
One Tandy Center, Fort
Worth, TX 76102, (817)
390-3011.
Inquiry 1291.

The CompuAdd Compan-
ion, which measures 8'/4
by 11 by 1% inches, has a 12-
MHz 286 processor with 1 MB
of RAM (expandable to 3
MB), a 20-MB hard disk drive,
and a backlit VGA screen
that measures 8 by 6 inches
and displays 16 gray scales.

LapLink software is in-
stalled in ROM, as well as
DOS 4.01 and diagnostics.
The system also has an 80287
math coprocessor socket. A
rechargeable battery pack and
an AC adapter are included.
Price: $2895.

Contact: CompuAdd Corp.,
12303 Technology Blvd., Aus-
tin, TX 78727, (800) 627-
1967 or (512) 250-1489.
Inquiry 1292.

The Peregrine SX
Has Landed

The Peregrine 20/32cSX
is a 20-MHz 386SX with
2 MB of RAM, a 1024- by
768-pixel Super VGA display,
a choice of floppy disk
drives, a Microsoft Mouse,
Windows 3.0, and DOS 4.01.

Hard disk drives are avail-
able in 40-, 80-, 105-, or 200-
MB configurations, and the
system will support an
80387SX math coprocessor.
Price: $1769; with 40-MB
hard disk drive, $2159.
Contact: Peregrine Com-
puters, 1 10 East Canal St.,
Troy, OH 45373, (800) 326-
7015, ext. 3119 or (513) 339-
3151.

Inquiry 1293.

CompuAdd 's notebook-size Companion weighs less than
5 pounds and has a VGA screen that displays up to 16 levels
of gray scales.

46 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

HARDWARE • PERIPHERALS

Mannesmann Tally offers low-cost wide- and narrow-carriage
printers.

24-wire Serial
Printers in Wide and
Narrow Versions

The MT 130/24 and
MT 13 1/24 printers cost
less than $1000 each and
were tested to operate for over
7800 hours before failure,
which is 30 percent longer than
the nearest competitor, ac-
cording to Mannesmann Tally.

The 24-wire serial printers
operate at 300 cps in draft
mode, 150 cps in near-letter-
quality mode, 100 cps in let-
ter-quality mode, and 12 cpi
in all modes.

Paper-handling capabili-
ties include single sheets, con-
tinuous forms, and four-part
forms. The printers also have
the ability to print single
sheets without removal of con-
tinuous forms and to print
continuous forms without re-
moval of the optional sheet
feeder.

Price: Narrow-carriage
MT130/24, $899; wide-car-
riage MT13 1/24, $999.
Contact: Mannesmann Tally
Corp., 8301 South 180th St.,
Kent, WA 98032, (206)
251-5500.
Inquiry 1294.

PostScript Laser
Printer Crosses
Bounds

NEC's Silentwriter2
Model 90 is a PostScript
laser printer that is compat-
ible with Macintosh and DOS
environments and sells for
less than $2500.

The 6-page-per-minute
printer provides 2 MB of RAM
(expandable to 4 MB). It has

a Motorola 68000 processor
with a built-in 16.7-MHz
Adobe PostScript interpreter
that provides 35 resident
scalable typefaces. The printer
also provides 13 resident
fonts in Hewlett-Packard
LaserJet IIP emulation.

The Silentwriter2 Model
90 prints at a resolution of 300
by 300 dpi. It weighs 44
pounds.

To hook it up to DOS or
Mac systems, it comes with
standard parallel, serial, and
AppleTalk/RS-422 interfaces.
It also comes with a software
kit that shows you what the
screen fonts will look like in
printed documents. The soft-
ware runs on Macs or under
Windows in DOS environ-
ments.

A 250-sheet-capacity
paper tray is included that
holds up to 24-pound letter or
legal-size paper, envelopes, or
transparencies. The toner
and optical photoconductor are
in replaceable cartridges said
to last for 6000 pages.
Price: $2495.
Contact: NEC Technol-
ogies, Inc., 1414 Massachu-
setts Ave., Boxborough, MA
01719, (508) 264-8000.
Inquiry 1295.

HSD Now Scanning
the Mac Market

Like Scan-X for the NeXT
machine, Scan-X Profes-
sional for the Macintosh fea-
tures image-enhancement tech-
nology, which HSD Micro-
computer calls Gray Spectrum
Enhancement, that allows
you to produce 256 shades of
gray with superior quality,
according to the company.

The Macintosh scanner
supports resolutions of up to
1500 dpi for line art and 300
dpi for gray-scale images. It
comes with Enhance soft-
ware from MicroFrontier. The
Enhance software offers 80
real-time filters, real-time
gray-level manipulation and
color painting, cropping, scal-
ing from 25 percent to 800
percent, rotating, brushing,
masking, text entry, process-
ing, colorization, and
ghosting.
Price: $1995.
Contact: HSD Microcom-
puter U.S., Inc., 1350 Pear
Ave., Suite C, Mountain
View, CA 94043, (415)
964-1400.
Inquiry 1296.

Compact Bernoulli
Drives

Iomega has announced its
Universal family of Ber-
noulli removable disk subsys-
tems. The family includes two
portable Bernoulli subsys-
tems: The Transportable is the
smallest, lightest Bernoulli
subsystem, according to Io-
mega; the Portable is a bat-
tery-powered version of the
AC-powered Transportable.

All the subsystems in the
Universal family work with the
IBM PC, the Macintosh, and
in networking environments.
They all use the SCSI stan-
dard and also have optional in-
terface kits available.
Price: Transportable, $1399;
Portable, $1699.
Contact: Iomega Corp.,
1821 West 4300 South, Roy,
UT 84067, (800) 456-5522
or (801) 778-1000.
Inquiry 1297.

An lOcomm-Crafted
Monitor

IOcomm, maker of the
Wave keyboard, has intro-
duced the CM-42 10, a 14-
inch Super VGA monitor. It
features a .28 dot pitch and
operates at 45 MHz with a res-
olution of 1024 by 768 pixels
(interlaced) . The monitor has a
nonglare screen and meets
worldwide safety regulations.

While the CM-4210 is not
inexpensive, IOcomm says that
it offers brighter colors,
sharper details, and firmer
picture stability than its com-
petitors.
Price: $549.

Contact: IOcomm, 12700
Yukon Ave., Hawthorne, CA
90250, (213)644-6100.
Inquiry 1298.

SPREAD THE WORD

Your new product is important to us. Please address information to
New Products Editors, BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peter-
borough, NH 03458. Better yet, use your modem and mail new
product information to the microbytes.hw or microbytes.sw
conferences on BIX. Please send the product description, price,
ship date, and an address and telephone number where readers can
get more information.

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 47

WHAT'S NEW

HARDWARE • ADD-INS

16-bit Data
Acquisition

The 5508HR is a half-size
analog input module for
PCs and laptops that includes
detachable screw terminations.
The board has eight differen-
tial and 16 single-ended analog
inputs and a choice of 15- or
50-kHz A/D throughputs.

The detachable-screw-ter-
mination design allows you to
wire analog and digital sig-
nals directly to the rear of the
computer, eliminating ca-
bling and external screw-ter-
minal panels. The board
measures 3%o by 6 inches.
Price: 15-kHz model, $895;
50-kHz model, $1295.
Contact: Adac Corp., 70
Tower Office Park, Woburn,
MA 01 801, (800) 648-6589
or (617) 935-6668.
Inquiry 1299.

Adac 's Direct Connect 5508HR data acquisition board.

Rapid Prototyping
with Protosystem AT

Protosystem AT is a wire-
wrap prototype card for
rapid prototyping of circuits
for the IBM AT, according to
Cana Group.
The manual wire-wrap

Multimedia for Windows 3.0

VideoWindows digital
video board comes
with multimedia software
that runs under Windows
3.0. The board and software
combination lets you posi-
tion windows of full-motion,
full-color video anywhere
on a VGA display, according
to New Media Graphics. You
can scale, reposition, crop,
and zoom the video in real

time. And image-capture ca-
pabilities are also included.

VideoWindows works
with any NTSC or PAL video
source, and you can overlay
graphics on the video.
Price: $2390.

Contact: New Media
Graphics Corp. , 780 Boston
Rd., Billerica, MA 01821,
(508) 663-0666.
Inquiry 1303.

IP"

Program Manj i jei

J File fdil Scale EHccts
yidco Settings Configure Tools

Conboi Panel

e

Hiciotoll Windowt
Vaiion 3.0
Copfiight o I985-I9S0 Mici

Flee Sytlet

Slandaid Mode

card has pins soldered in place
on every signal line, along
with bypass capacitors on
every power line. According
to Cana, it holds more than
100 16-pin IC sockets.

For ease of use, the signal
pins are never closer together
than Ys inch. The signal lines
are grouped onto address,
data, and control buses. For
quick troubleshooting, each
signal pin has a label on each
side of the board.
Price: $149.95.
Contact: Cana Group, Suite
402, 100 Walnut St., Peoria,
IL 61602, (800) 747-2262 or
(309) 674-9009.
Inquiry 1300.

Shift Your LaserJet
into High Gear

An expandable memory
board for LaserJet IIP
and III printers, the LaserGo
Memory Board lets you add up
to 4 MB with one board. You
can install the board with just a
screwdriver, according to
LaserGo, and it automatically
senses whether it's in a
LaserJet IIP or III. The board,
which comes with 1 MB, is
expandable to 4 MB and is
compatible with Hewlett-
Packard memory boards al-

ready installed.

Price: $295.

Contact: LaserGo, Inc.,

9369 Carroll Park Dr., Suite

A, San Diego, CA 92121,

(800) 955-1 132 or (619) 450-

4600.

Inquiry 1301.

Graphics

Controllers Do Unix,
DOS, and OS/2

Using a 10-MIPS proces-
sor, the Info SGX graph-
ics controller is 60 percent
faster than other graphics pro-
cessors, according to Nissei
Sangyo America. You can fur-
ther speed up the board with
an optional coprocessor with
dedicated program memory.

The Info SGX family of
boards supports a range of res-
olutions of up to 1600 by
1280 pixels, including 8514/A,
Super VGA, and VGA. All
models support single- and
dual-screen modes.

The graphics boards in-
stall in a single card slot and
come with drivers for major
DOS applications. Drivers for
OS/2 Presentation Manager
and the X Window System are
also available.
Price: $4295 and up.
Contact: Nissei Sangyo
America, Ltd. , 800 South St. ,
Waltham, MA 02154, (800)
441-4832 or (617) 893-5700.
Inquiry 1302.

continued

48 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

db VISTA III for Windows 3.0

I DBMS That
Opens Windews"

MlCKOSCFT.
WINDOWS,

Get High Performance
Under Microsoft
Windows 3.0™ Witli
db_VISTAmDBMS.

Develop Windows applications
that are better, faster, and more
profitable. db_VISTAin
combines speed, flexibility, and
productivity into one DBMS tool
for C and Windows programmers.
Add db_VISTA m's high-speed
SQL retrieval to your appUcation
and watch your users enjoy power
they've never experienced before.

Built For Windows.

db_VISTA m for Windows 3.0
follows all of the Microsoft

db_VISTAin

Database Management System

guidelines for memory use.
Dynamic linked libraries (DLL),
multi-tasking, and multi-user
environments are all supported.
For even faster development, use
db_VISTA m with products like
ToolBook®, Windowcraft®, or
Actor®.

No Other DBMS Opens
Windows Like db VISTA HI!

• Speed. Benchmarks show
db_VISTA m significantly
outperforms any DBMS under
Windows.

• No Royalties. Increase your
profits; decrease your overhead.

• C Source Code Available.

For total programming flexibility.

• Portability. db_VISTAm
supports most environments.

Specifications; single & multi-user. Automatic lecovei}'. Automatic referential integrit)'. Relational and network
data models supported. Relational SQL qutn and leport writer. Complete revision capabilin'. C source code is available.
No royalties. Supports: MS Windows, .MS-DOS, OS/2, VMS, UNIX, BSD, Q.NX. SunOS, .Macintosh.

©COmDlH/Fall'90

November 12-16. 1990
Las Vegas. Nevada

'"special $195 Developer's Edition

For a limited time only, you can get
your hands on db_VISTA for
Windows for only $195. Call today
and ask about our Developer's Edition
and experience how db_VISTA IH
can open Windows for you.

Developer license only; not for distribution.
l_||i|n[ij_iilJL lJl.1 miiwaMVMi

Call 1-800-db-RAIMA

(1-800-327-2462)

In Washington state call: (206) 747-5570

Full Raima Support Services -
Including Training. Develop
your applications even faster witli
Raima Trainins Classes:

Nov. 19, 1990
Nov. 26-30. 1990
Nov, 26-30. 1990
Nov. 28-29. 1990
Dec, 10-14. 1990
Dec, 17-18. 1990

Taiwan

The Netherlands
Sweden

United Kingdom
San Diego, CA
Taiwan

r|l RAIMA

CORPORATION

Raima Corporation 3245 146th Place S.E., Bellevue, WA 98007 USA (206)747-5570 Telex: 6503018237 MCI UW Fax: (206)747-1991

International Distributors: .\rgentina: 54 1 313 5371 .Australia: 61 2419 7177 Austria: 43 33 43 81861 Brazil: 55 1 1 829 1 687 Central .America: 506 28 07 64 Denmark: 45 42 887249
France: 33 1 46092784 Italv: 39 45 58471 1 Japan: 81 3 865 2140 Mexico: 52 83 49 53 OO The Netherlands: 31 02159 46 814 Norway: 47 244 8855 Sweden: 46 013 124780 Switzerland: 41 64 517475
Taiwan: 886 2 552 3277 Turkey: 90 1 152 0516 United Kingdom: 44 0992 500919 Uruguay: 598 2-92 0959 USSR: 01 32 35 99 07; 812 292 19 65; 0142437952 West Germany: 49 7022 34077
Copyright ®1990 Raima Corporalion, All rights reser\ed. db_ is registeretj in the US.Patent aitii Trademark Office. Windows 3.0. ToolBook, Windowcraft, and Actor are trademarks of their respective companies.

Circle 298 on Reader Service Card

THE Only Competition For Our New Handhe

Ml

SCANMAN

GRAY SCAIE SCANNER

FOR IBM

^^ew ScanMan^ Model 256 puts professional gray scale scanning with-
in everyone's grasp. It does almost everything a big, expensive scanner
can do, for a fraction of the price, ^^ew ScanMan Model 256 lets you
capture the subtlest details in your originals, in 256 shades of gray. Special
retouching software tools let you enhance difficult originals and preview
the results. You can dramatically improve the contrast and brightness of
any image. So you always give your monitor and printer the best possible
image to work with, ^^hat really sets ScanMan Model 256 apart is its
ingenious AnseP software (Windows™ 3.0 compatible). Ansel lets you scan

LD Scanner Requires A Much Bigger Hand.

and print 8" x 11" images by effortlessly stitching two 4" x 11" images
together You can instantly re-align, resize, flip or rotate images to create
special effects. he possibilities are endless. You can scan photos, line
art, illustrations or logos and create magazine quality layouts. With
optional CatchWord™ Intelligent OCR software you can scan text in most any
typeface, ^^ew ScanMan Model 256 comes with Logitech's™ legendary
quality and lifetime warranty. All for only $499 (Micro Channel version,
$599). For more information call Logitech Customer Sales: in California
(800)552-8885; in Canada (800)283-7717; in Europe -I- -1-41-21-869-9656.
is/TM: Trademarks of registered owners CircU 206 OH Redder Service Card (RESELLERS: 207)

Outside CA call:
800-231-7717 ext. 348

Tools That Power The Desktop.

WHAT'S NEW

HARDWARE • OTHER

Power for the Road

Zirco's PowerTrip lets
you power up a computer,
fax machine, or any other AC
device from an automobile cig-
arette lighter.

PowerTrip provides 100 W
of continuous 1 15-V AC
power. It features a low-bat-
tery alarm, a power switch, a
safe-power light, and surge
suppression— and it's small
enough to fit in your shirt
pocket, according to Zirco.

PowerTrip also comes in
an international version, which
converts power from a vehi-
cle cigarette lighter to 100 W
of220-V AC power.
Price: $199.95.
Contact: Zirco, Inc., 10900
West 44th Ave. , Wheat Ridge,
CO 80033, (303)421-2013.
Inquiry 1304.

Brackets for Your
Hardware Keys

Are your hardware keys
forming a key chain be-
hind your computer? If so,
you might need an adapter
bracket.

Software Security has such
a device, which fits into an
empty slot in your PC and
keeps your hardware keys out
of the way. The company
claims that the device is diffi-
cult to remove, so it adds
even more security than the
hardware keys alone.
Price: $15.

Contact: Software Security,
Inc., 1011 High Ridge Rd.,
Stamford, CT 06905, (800)
333-0407 or (203) 329-8870.
Inquiry 1305.

PowerTrip gives you AC
power on the road.

Safeguarding
Intellectual Property
with Hardware Keys

SentinelScribe is an exe-
cution control device de-
signed to help software de-
velopers safeguard application
programs from unauthorized
use.

Rainbow Technologies
says that it is the first field-
writable memory-based hard-
ware key. The key contains
120 bytes of EEPROM,
which is enough to protect
more than one software pro-
gram, according to Rainbow.
"Field writable" means that
your software applications
have the ability to write to

SentinelScribe's memory.

The key connects to the
computer's parallel printer
port. It operates transparent-
ly but must be present for the
software to run. It executes a
password system customized
by the software developer.
Price: $39.

Contact: Rainbow Technol-
ogies, 9292 Jeronimo Rd., Ir-
vine, CA 92718, (800) 852-
8569 or (714) 454-2100.
Inquiry 1306.

Extend Yourself
with the SCSI Plus

If your SCSI devices are too
far apart, the SCSI Plus Bus
Repeater will give you an ad-
ditional 19 feet of extension, or
you can daisy chain them to
any desired length.

Applied Concepts says that
the SCSI Plus is easy to install.
It hooks directly into stan-
dard SCSI adapters. It's com-
pletely transparent to the
user, according to the manu-
facturer, and supports 5-
MBps data transfers over a dis-
tance of 19 feet.
Price: $350.

Contact: Applied Concepts,
Inc., 5350-H Eastgate Mall,
San Diego, CA 92121, (619)
453-0090.
Inquiry 1307.

A Friendly
Programmer
from Xeltek

The Logic Universal Pro-
grammer for programma-
ble logic devices works with
PLDs from all manufacturers,
according to Xeltek. The Pro-
grammer offers an interface
that combines pull-down
menus, windows, and a com-
mand line.
Price: $395.

Contact: Xeltek, 764 San
Aleso Ave., Sunnyvale, CA
94086, (800) 541-1975 or
(408) 727-6995.
Inquiry 1308.

12-V Battery Tester

The Performance Univer-
sal 12 Volt Battery Tester
determines the condition of
lead-acid batteries, including
maintenance-free types such
as sealed, recombination, and
gel cells. It subjects the bat-
tery to an 80-amp load for 10
seconds and indicates wheth-
er the battery is good, weak,
or bad. Pin jacks on the tester
accommodate an auxiliary
voltmeter that allows precise
measurements during testing.
The 2 '/2 -pound tester resides
in a thermoplastic case.
Price: $239.

Contact: Performance Tech-
nological Products, P.O. Box
947, Roswell, GA 30077,
(404)475-3192.
Inquiry 1309.

Software Security 's adapter brackets hold a line of hardware
security keys in place.

52 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

The Carry- 1 9000 series comes complete with 80386SX/80286-1 6/80286-1 2
microprocessor iCo-Processor optionai). 1024x768 VGA/MGA & CGA display
interface, 1/2/4 MB RAM. one 3.5" 1.44 MB FDD or one FDD plus one 40/80
MB HDD, one 8 bit expansion SLOT, one parallel and two serial I/O ports,
and one 30W auto range switching power adapter, all in the traditional
240mmx 185mm x45mm (9.4"x7.3"x 1 .8"| casing of Carry- 1. Each package
includes two mini-tower stands and a carry bag. The 82 key mini keyboard
and 9 inch color or monochrome VGA monitor are optional.

Other Carry- 1 products include the 8000 series XT & AT book-size personal
computers and the 6000 series XT and AT book-size LANstations, ETHERnet
pocket LAN adapter and Carry Mouse.

CRRRV-I

A Refreshing Idea....

A New Standard....
Computing Goes Better With CARRY-1

FLYTECH TECHNOLOGY CO.. LTD.
HEAD OFFICE:

2FL. NO. 8. LANE 50 SEC 3, NAN-K.-\NG

RD. TAIPEI. TAIWAN R O.C.

TEL# 886-2-7852556 FAX# 886-2-7852371.

WC:

TEL* 49-69-746081 FAX* 49-69-749375

Circle 138 on Reader Service Card

See us at
COMDEX/Fall '90
Nov. 12-16, 1990
Sands Hotel
Booth: N4028

■408-7277373,'4
-408-7277375

U.SA-
TEL*
FAX*

H.K.:

TEL* 852-3051268
FAX* 852-7968427

DISTRIBUTOR;

• CANADA: BUDGETRON INC. TEL* 416-564-7800 FAX* 416-564-2679 • FRANCE: M3C L INFORMATIQUE DU SUCCES TEL# 1-48271976 FAX* 1-42355916 • ISRAEL: MLL COMPUTERS
SYSTEMS LTD TEL* 3-751551 1 FAX* 3-7516615 • ITALY: PRIMA COMPUTER TRADING ITALIA TEL* 522-518599 FAX* 522-518599 • MALAYSIA: COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SDN. BHD
TEL* 03-2748888 FAX* 03-2749988 • NETHERLAND: KOPIEERSYSTEMEN NEDERLAND B.V. TEL* 2968-84141 FAX* 2968-97436 • NORWAY: SECUS DATA A.'S TEL* 2-722510 FAX* 2-722515

• SINGAPORE: COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SDN. BHD TEL* 4758408 FAX* 4713803 • SOUTH AFRICA: PC MART COMPUTER GROUP TEL* 1 1-8043355 FAX* 1 1-8024153 • SPAIN: AT
ELECTRONIC. S.A. TEL* 1-5645434 FAX* 1-41 10869 • SWITZERLAND: ESS SOFTWARE TRADING SA TEL* 022-622020 FAX* 022-615650 • UNITED KINGDOM: CENTERPRISE INTERNATIONAL
LTD. TEL* 256-463754 FAX* 256-843174 • WEST GERMANY: MACROTRON AG TEL* 89-4208233 FAX* 89-423745 • BELGIUM: CELEM S.A, TEL* 41-676434 FAX* 41-676515

WHAT'S NEW

CONNECTIVITY

iMillillilfllHIil^^

You can remotely control up to four VGA displays from eight
systems with Network Technologies ' matrix switch (bottom) and
remote-control unit (top).

Remote-Control
VGA Displays

Network Technologies'
SM-8X4-15V video ma-
trix switch lets you connect
up to four VGA displays to up
to eight computers and re-
motely control the displays
from up to 1000 feet away
with the SM-RMT-8 x4 re-
mote unit.

The system comes in two
parts: the matrix switch and
the remote-control unit. The
remote unit has 32 backlit and
touch-activated switches for
choosing which VGA to con-
trol. Each VGA source on the
control unit can be connected
to one or all four VGA
displays.

The remote-control unit
connects to the matrix switch
via a 5-pin DIN connector. It
comes with a 25-foot cable for
connecting to the switch.

The matrix switch comes
with eight 6-foot VGA cables
for connecting to the eight
systems. It measures %Vi by
11 1/4 by 12 inches.
Price: Matrix switch, $2450;
remote unit, $525.
Contact: Network Technol-
ogies, Inc., 19145 Elizabeth
St., Aurora, OH 44202,
(800) 742-8324 or (216) 543-
1646.

Inquiry 1310.

Low-Priced
LAN Control

AN Command is LAN
management software that

combines database manage-
ment with low-level network
analysis. It loads on one cli-

ent workstation, requiring
260K bytes of RAM. From
that workstation, LAN Com-
mand can monitor and con-
trol your entire Novell or Net-
BIOS-based network.

The relational database
system tracks node data (in-
cluding user name, location,
phone number, address, and

node name) and more than 50
additional fields. Portions of
the database are populated
automatically by the network-
monitoring commands to
build a traffic history for every
node.

A report generator pro-
vides standard and custom re-
ports using Boolean opera-
tors on any field in the record.
For example, the administra-
tor might request a custom re-
port for every Ethernet node
on the fourth floor that uses a
server named Accounting
and has been rebooted more
than five times in the last
week.

Other monitoring features
include packet activity, colli-
sions, ring faults, bridge fail-
ures, router failures, band-
width use, traffic errors, and
data loss. And you can monitor
single stations, sets of sta-
tions, or the entire network
across bridges and routers
from any single DOS or OS/2
workstation.

A TSR program called
Snooper lets you perform re-
mote administration of the
client computer.
Price: $395.

Contact: Dolphin Software,
Inc., 6050 Peachtree Pkwy.,
Suite 340-208, Norcross, GA
30092, (404) 339-7877.
Inquiry 1311.

continued

ISDN Connmunlcations with a PC

The PC SNET Card is an
ISDN terminal adapter
board that provides ISDN
basic rate access. It allows si-
multaneous voice, data, and
image transmission.

One card has an aggregate
throughput of 144,000 bps.
This is made up of transpar-
ent data transmission at
64,000 bps over two B chan-
nels and 16,000-bps packet
signaling over the D chan-
nel, OST reports. You install
the card in a full-size expan-

sion slot in the PC. It oper-
ates under DOS, Unix, or
Xenix.

The card provides the
standard S-type connection
along with an audio jack, an
RJ-11 modular telephone
jack, and a 15-pin serial con-
nector. Internal connections
include a parallel connector,
a private bus connector, and
a bus interrupt connector for
use in installing multiple PC
SNET Cards in a single PC.
Price: $1695.

Contact: OST, Inc., 14225
Sullyfield Cir., Chantilly,
VA22021, (703) 817-0400.
Inquiry 1312.

54 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

INSTANT Workstation.
Just Add Open Desktop.

Take a look at the vast majority of graphical workstations
developed over the past decade and you'll see something ,
they all have in common:

An integrated UNIX® System environment.

Now take a look at the vast majority of businesses that have put
computing power directly onto their office desktops over the
past decade, and you'll see something they all have in common:

Industry-standard personal computers.

It doesn't take a computer to forecast the platform that's going
to put graphical workstations on the vast majority of business
and engineering desktops in the next decade:

An integrated UNIX System environment for industry-standard
personal computers.

And that's what Open Desktop'" is all about.

Open Desktop is the complete graphical operating system
that's built on the most popular UNIX System platform of
all time— SCO'". And it lets you create your own networked,
icon-driven workstation environment using the industry-
standard 386 or 486 computers and peripherals of your choice.

I

n a single, easy-to-use, fully supported— and completely
integrated— package, Open Desktop delivers:

• the full 32-bit, multitasking computing power of SCO UNIX
System V/386

• compliance with POSIX'" and X/Open® standards

• an OSF/Motif'"-based, Presentation Manager-compatible,
graphical user interface

• distributed SQL database management services

• compatibility with existing DOS, XENIX®, and UNIX System
applications and data files

• NFS", TCP/IP and LAN Manager networking facilities
And all at an unbelievably affordable price.

Discover the complete graphical operating system that
leading companies worldwide are choosing as their devel-
opment platform for the '90s— and using to turn their 386 and
486 PCs into instant workstations today.

Open Desktop from SCO.

□111 OPEN

^Udesktor

The Complete Graphical Openiliiig System

COME SEE US
AT COMDEX,
ROOM B-1!

THE SANTA CRUZ OPERATION

For more information, call SCO today and ask for ext. 8400
(800) SCO-UNIX (726-8649) (408) 425-7222 FAX: (408) 458-4227 E-MAIL: . . . !uunet!sco!info info@sco.COM

SCftlheSCOlKRo. Open Desklop. and ihe Open DeskEitp logo are irademarksofTne Santa Cruz Operaliim. Inc. ['NIXisareRisiered irademarit uf AT&Tin [helSAand(>lherciiuntrie>. POSl.XisairademarkiifThelnstiiuieoftleciricalandtiecirnnicstngineers (IEEE) X/Open isa
regisiered trademark of X Open Gimpanv Ud. OSF/Motif is a irademarti iif The Open Sofi»-are Fimndalion, Inc. XENIX is a registered trademark trfMlcrosofi C(HTioraii(Mi NFS is a trademark of Sun Mtcros-yslems. Inc- I0'»9
©1989 The Sama Cruz Operation, Inc. .All Rights Reserved. The Santa Cruz Operation. Inc. 400 Encinal Street. P-0, Box (900. Santa Cruz, California 9S06I I'SA The Sanu Cruz Operation. Ud..CroxleyCemre. Haiiers Lane, Watford VDI KYS.Creat Britain, (0)9i.( K16.^4i.

FAX: +HH ^om^ sr-si, telex: wrz scolov g

Circle 307 on Reader Service Card

EghtTop Databa

XXitOndBAS

ADAM GREEN

President, Adam Green Seminars, Lexington, MA:

"It's sigmjicantly faster in some
very important areas, especially in
the fancy, attractive user
interface. .Ma very stable
product, very reliable. I can
safely recommend it"

PAT ADAMS

President, DB Unlimited, Brooklyn, NY:

"With standardization on the
dBASE TV language, we have our
database starmard, which makes
life easier for me, for my clients,
and every other dBASE user. . . It's

a solid, reliable product that
performs the same way every time."

BOBDAVIES

President, SET, Sausalito, CA:

"Memory utilization is much better
than either dBASE III PEUS or
dBASE TV version 1.0— a very
substantial improvement
This means we are able to
run our products, vMch require
lots of memory and the need

for a network, in
a dBASE IV 1.1 environment"

SCOTT ROBERTSON

President, Champion Business Systems, Golden, CO:

"We think that it's solid. We think it's
reliable. We think it's an excellent

foundation for future development
The great thing about dBASE TV
is that it has a flexible language
and a good user interface. With
dBASE TV version 1.1, end-users
can take the product and tailor
it so it fits their exact needs'.'

After running their own extensive tests, these independent experts have come
to some very favorable conclusions on dBASE IV® version 1.1. We think you will, too

. dBASE. dRASE III PLUS, dB.ASE IV, Ashton-Iaie and the Ashton-Tate logo are registered trademarks of Ashton-Tate Corporation- Other company or produci names mentioned may be trademarks of their respective companies-

se Experts Speak
E IV Version 11

TONY LIMA

Author of "Inside dBASE ly President, Pacific Systems
Design Workshop Inc., San Carlos, CA:

HOMER BRANCH

Programmer Analyst, Chevron CEPS, New Orleans, LA:

"Version 1.1 should dominate the
market Its added features make it
the best development environment
available for PC database products
. . . None of the other products
have the power and ease of the
dBASE N Control Center."

"I'm using version 1.1 to develop
applications right now . . . ft's
much easier to use than either

dBASElIIPEUSorlO...
Because of the Control Center,
version 1.1 allows my users to

do queries and get their
reports widwut calling me"

*•

RICHARD BRENNER

President, Westar Systems, Colorado Springs, CO:

SAM GILL

President, DataWiz International, Foster City CA:

"I'm now taking on some major
consulting jobs that I wouldn't do
before dBASE Wand its multiuser
capabilities. . . I'm excited about
t le way they've gone throu^
and enhanced just about every
one of the new features mthin
the program and the
programming language"

"dBASE IV version 1.1 is
significantly faster. . . Memory
management has really been
improved. We can now load and
run a system very comfortably in
640K bytes. . . Features like the
form, report and application
generators allow us to cut down
development time"

1'

Call 1-800-437-4329, ext. 1403, for more information. Better a a u, j. _ k^T>,+^
yet, call 1-800-2ASHTON for an immediate upgrade, .vm ASniOn- 1 3.16

1990 Ashton-Tale Coiporanon- All rights resereed GTSI's GSA Schedule GS00K90AGS5216

Circle 34 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 35)

WHAT'S NEW

CONNECTIVITY

The DR 96 is a wireless, battery-powered modem for portable
communications.

Wireless
Communications

The DR 96 is an asyn-
chronous/ synchronous
half-duplex modem that of-
fers portable and wireless data
transmission. Both the radio
and the modem are contained
in the same 15'/i-ounce
package.

The DR 96 uses the radio
frequency band of 470 MHz
and has a sensitivity of .35
microvolts. The unit also of-
fers 10-ms RTS (request to
send) and GTS (clear to send)
signaling times.

A rechargeable IV2-W bat-
tery pack that comes with the
modem can operate it for
from 4 to 10 hours. A recharg-
er is also included that can
recharge the batteries in 3
hours, according to UDS.
Price: $1295.
Contact: UDS, 5000 Brad-
ford Dr., Huntsville, AL
35805, (205) 430-8000.
Inquiry 1313.

Modem

with a Memory

The Visionary 2400XT is
a direct-connect 2400-bps
modem with battery-backed
internal memory and a real-
time clock/calendar to con-
trol when you send and receive
messages. A blinking mes-
sage-waiting light lets you
know when you have mes-
sages. You can even send and
receive messages when the
host computer is turned off.
All this internal intelligence
is controlled by an 8085
microprocessor.

In addition, you can store
dozens of phone numbers and
messages for distribution at
various times. Other features
include redialing on busy or

no answer, auto-answer during
particular times only, auto-
matic log-on, data retrieval,
XMODEM file transfer, re-
mote access, and password se-
curity. The modem also has a
printer port and a nickel-cad-
mium battery.

The modem is available in
three versions: 8K-byte, 256K-
byte, and 1-MB. It measures
5%by 83/oby I'/z inches.
Price: 8K-byte unit, $495;
256K-byte unit, $595; 1-MB
unit, $745.

Contact: Visionary Electron-
ics, Inc., 141 Parker Ave., San
Francisco, CA94118, (415)
751-8811.
Inquiry 1314.

Notework Moves
Out into the Field

Notework recently an-
nounced Notework Re-
mote, a remote version of its
5K-byte Notework E-mail pro-
gram. Remote allows laptop
users or branch offices to pop
up Notework over the phone
line. The software automati-
cally makes the connection
and does the uploading or
downloading of mail.

Like the original Notework
for Novell NetWare, Remote
takes up only 5K bytes of
RAM, employs the same user
interface, and lets you
pop into it without leaving

your application.

Notework alerts you with a
tone when you receive mail,
and you see a flashing sym-
bol in the upper-right corner of
the screen. Other features let
you attach files, print notes,
confirm notes, and import
and export ASCII files.
Notework offers a gateway to
Message Handling Service.

The most recent version of
Notework now supports multi-
ple NetWare 386 servers
without requiring additional
gateways or mail servers.
Version 1.1.4 supports up to
3500 users on a single inter-
network, according to Note-
work.

Price: $99; installation kit,
$99; two-user authorization
disk, $99.

Contact: Notework Corp. ,
72 Kent St. , Brookline, MA
02146, (800)767-6683 or
(617) 738-5295.
Inquiry 1315.

Linking Buildings
via Infrared Light

Building-to-Building
Photolink lets you con-
nect computers in adjacent
buildings up to 600 feet away,
according to Photonics.
Two versions of Photolink

are available: AppleTalk/
LocalTalk for the Mac, and
an interface for systems
equipped with RS-232C
ports.

At the end of each connec-
tion is a Photolink transceiver
that communicates with its
corresponding unit. Photonics
says that the device can oper-
ate through two panes of stan-
dard office window glass.

Photolink can connect to
existing cable-based systems
and is compatible with
AppleTalk routers and bridges.
It transmits at 230,400 bps.
The RS-232C version trans-
mits up to four channels si-
multaneously at 9600 bps.
Price: $3390 per connection
for both versions.
Contact: Photonics Corp.,
200 East Hacienda Ave. ,
Campbell, CA 95008, (408)
370-3033.
Inquiry 1316.

Modem Sharing
for Networks

Modem Assist lets you
share up to 20 modems
connected to a LAN. It elim-
inates the need for a dedicated
communications server and
the cost of rerouting all modem
phone lines, according to
Fresh Technology Group.

The software works with
multiport serial cards that sup-
port up to 16 modems on a
single workstation. It requires
less than lOK bytes of RAM
and runs in the background on
any workstation with the
modem.

Modem Assist requires
PCs running on NetBIOS or
NetWare networks with DOS
3.0 or higher.
Price: $495 for up to five
modems; $995 for six to 20
modems.

Contact: Fresh Technology
Group, 1478 North Tech
Blvd., Suite 101, Gilbert, AZ
85234, (602) 497-4200.
Inquiry 1317.

continued

58 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Programmer's Paradise (800)

has the Utilities that you need ! ^^^^^^^

A WINNING COMBINATION!

URBO EMS - Memory Manager

• Supports PC, XT, AT, PS/2, and 386
systems

• Ability to relocate TSRs and device
drivers

• Automatic installation and configura-
tion on 386 systems

• Windows 3.0 support
List: $99.95 Ours: $89

joMERRILL
OCBRYAN

nfoSpotter - Diagnostic tool

Detailed description about memory
and system configuration

Displays TSRs and device drivers
loaded between 640KB and 1 MB

Ability to edit AUTOEXEC.BAT,
CONHG.SYS and batch files

Special MicroChannel support

VAXazera =22:3^000:

List: $79.95 Ours: $69

HIJAAK RELEASE 2.0

JTl-iJaak 2.0 is a graphics
conversion and capture utility
that translates more than 36
graphics file formats. Hijaak
provides batch conversion
capabiUty from the DOS com-
mand line or from the user
interface.

Supported formats: GEM, PICT
l&II, GCM, HPGL, PIC, DXF,
PCX, MAC, TIF, and support
for more than 16 group 3 fax
devices. ASK pop-up provides
capture function of text
screens, graphics screens, and
laser printer output.

FAXcetera #19:6-0002

List: $199 Ours: $139

Inset Systems

SQUISH PLUS

/ft

Sundog Software Corp.

O' quish Plus can enlarge the capacity of all your disks-hard,
floppy, or silicon. By compressing data, it can get up to 240MB
on a 120MB hard disk-without any new
hardware. Unlike archive programs, it's
completely automatic and invisible.
Squished files stay compacted on disk
even while they're being used, and
you're free to choose which files
to compress. Because it's a
device driver, it's totally
compatible with all your
other software: any
database, compiler, backup,
cache, etc.

FAXcetera #16?6-0001

List: $100 Ours: $75

SWITCH-IT

WITCH-IT is a task-switching package that allows users to
switch programs (up to 100) to their EMS or hard disk, freeing up
RAM space to run large applications. The easiest to use of any
product of its kind, SWITCH-IT offers automatic installation,
a customizable menu, a cut & paste feature, complete

network compatibiUty and SWITCH-IT only uses 26K of RAM

TAXcetira #2396-0001

List: $100

Ours: $69

Programmer's Paradise

®

•••

LIST OURS

We'll Beatlhe Competition's Advertised Prices

LIST OURS

386 CONTROL PROGRAMS

DESQvievv 386 vv/QEMM 220 169

Microsoft Windows 3.0 150 99

VM/386 245 209

VM/386 Multiuser 895 839

VM/386 Multiuser Starter 393 339

386 DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

386 ASM/LinkLoc
C-Terp 386

Lahev F77L-EM/32 (w/OS,
MetaWare High C 386

Parado>i'386
PC-lint 386

Phar Lap 386 ASM/LINK
WATCOM C 8.0/386 Prof.

w/Phar Lap 386 ASM/LINK
WATCOM C 8.0/386 Standard

ADA

Academic IntegrAda
Ada Scope Debugger
Ada Training Environment
Adagraphics
IntegrAda

Meridian AdaStudent
Meridian Ada Developer's Kit

ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE

Advantage Disassembler
ASMFlow

Dis Doc Professional
MS Macro Assembler
OPTASM
RerSource

Sourcer w/ Pre-Processor
SpontaneousAssembly
Turbo Debugger & Tools
Visible Computer: 80286

BASIC COMPILERS

MS BASIC Prof. Devel. System

Power Basic

QuickBASIC

BASIC LIBS/UTILITIES

GraphPak Professional

P.D.Q.

ProBas

ProBas Toolkit

QBase and Quickscreen

QuickComm

QuickPak Professional

QuickWindows Advanced

C COMPILERS

Lattice C 6.0
Microsoft C 6.0
w/ Objective-C
MS QuickC 2.5

MS QuickC w/ QuickAssembler
Turbo C 2.0

WATCOM C 8.0 Professional
WATCOM C 8.0 Standard

C++

1295

1145

239

189

1290

1035

895

849

995

799

895

629

239

179

495

435

1295

1099

1790

1399

895

719

249

225

495

445

895

809

695

629

795

719

50

45

1195

1095

295

279

99

89

250

225

150

105

150

129

ISO

129

170

149

395

189

150

105

100

89

495

349

129

89

99

69

149

129

129

115

159

149

99

94

149

125

149

119

169

149

149

119

250

155

495

339

699

539

99

69

199

139

99

69

495

419

395

335

C++/Views

495

419

NOP C++

495

479

Rogue Wave Math.h++

200

179

Rogue Wave Tools.h++

200

179

Turbo C++

200

139

Turbo C++ Professional

300

205

Competitive Upgrade

ISO

139

Zinc Library

200

179

Zortech C++ Debugger

150

129

Zortech C++

200

165

Zortech C++ Developer's Edition 450

399

Bundled w/ C++/Views

945

595

Zortech C++ Tools

130

129

Zortech C++ Video Course

300

449

C-COMMUNICATIONS

Breakout II

249

189

C Asynch Manager 3.0

189

139

Essential Communications

329

259

Creenleaf CommLib

359

287

Greenleaf ViewComm

399

319

SilverComm C Asynch Library

249

209

View-232

189

149

C-FILE MANAGEMENT

AccSys tor dBASE or Paradox

395

349

Btrieve Devei. System

595

449

Codebase IV

295

219

c-tree

395

315

dBC III Plus

500

439

dbJILE Bundle

295

249

Essential B-Tree w/ source

198

149

FairCom Toolbox - Prof. Edition

1095

789

FairCom Toolbox - Special

695

509

Paradox Engine

493

349

C-GENERAL LIBRARIES

Blackstar C Function Librarv

99

79

C TOOLS PLUS/6.0

149

109

C Utilitv Library

249

199

Greenleaf Functions

229

179

Greenleaf SuperFunctions

299

239

Turbo C TOOLS/2.0

149

109

C SCREENS

C-VVorthy

399

CALL

Greenleaf DataWindows

395

315

Panel Plus

495

395

QuickWindows Advanced (C)

169

149

Vermont Views

495

395

Viiamin C

225

165

VC Screen

149

125

C-UTILITIES/OTHER

Bar Code Library

389

319

Clear +

200

169

C Shroud

198

149

DIVVY

229

209

Heap Expander

80

70

MKS LEX & VACC

249

197

Objective-C

249

225

PC-lint

139

105

PCYACC Professional

495

459

TimeSlicer

295

279

CASE TOOLS

EasvCASE Plus

295

265

Professional Pack

395

355

Personal CASE

199

179

COBOL LANGUAGE

Micro Focus:

COBOiy2wy Toolset

1800

1499

Personal COBOL

149

129

MS COBOL

900

629

Realia COBOL

995

849

CODE GENERATORS

Logic Gem

99

69

Matrix Lavout 2.0

200

159

PRO-C

399

339

DATABASE DEVELOPMENT

Clarion 2.1

CALL

CALL

\— 1 ipper D .u

795

519

299

269

dBASE IV

795

489

dBFast/PLUS

345

295

dGE

295

249

1 00

89

99

90

FUhTools!

89

79

Flipper

195

169

Force 2.1

695

589

FoxPro

795

489

rUiNLNv LiDrary

1 95

179

K&K tseport vvnter

129

KiK L-Ooe Lienerator

1 50

129

iav vvnatii

50

39

SilverComm C Interface

99

89

SilverComm Library 2.0

249

209

Tom Rettig's Library

199

80

LJI2 Version Two

d9d

479

DEBUGGERS (DOS)

MultiScope

179

135

Periscope 1/51 2K

595

475

Periscope II w/ switch

225

179

Periscope IV/16, 25 MHz

CALL

CALL

Trapper

200

179

w/ optional cable

240

219

Turbo Debugger & Tools

150

105

DOCUMENTING/

FLOWCHARTING

allCLEAR

300

229

Clear+

195

169

C-Clearly

130

115

Flow Charting 3

250

199

Interactive Easyflow

150

125

Paginate

100

79

Source Print

99

74

The Documentor

295

245

Tree Diagrammer

99

74

EDITORS

BRIEF 3.0

249

CALL

EDT+

295

269

EMACS

325

265

Epsilon

195

159

KEDIT 4.0

150

125

MKS Vi

149

129

PI Editor

195

175

Sage Professional Editor

295

249

SLICK Editor

195

154

SPF/PC

245

199

SYNDIE

493

399

VEDIT PLUS

183

CALL

tMofcUUtU blslcMS

Link & Locate ++

395

349

Link & Locate ++ Extended

479

395

Paradigm Locate

295

265

FORTRAN LANGUAGE

Grafmatic

135

119

Lahey F77L

595

535

Lahey Personal FORTRAN 77

99

89

MS FORTRAN

450

299

Plotmatic

135

119

RM/FORTRAN

595

499

WATCOM FORTRAN 77/386

1095

CALL

GRAPHICS LIBRARIES

Baby Driver

250

199

Essential Graphics

399

319

Font-Tools

150

119

Graf/Drive Plus Developer's

299

269

Graphic 5.0

395

319

GSS Graphics Devel. Toolkit

595

509

GX Graphics

149

135

HALO

395

279

HALO Professional

595

419

HALO Window Toolkit

595

419

Icon-Tools/Plus

150

119

Menuet

325

279

Meta Window

250

209

MetaWindow Plus

325

289

PCX Effects

99

89

PCX Programmer's Toolkit

195

175

PCX Text

149

135

SilverPaint

129

109

Slate w/ graphics

448

415

Turbo Geometry Library

200

179

LINKERS/LIBRARIANS

Overlav Toolkit

393

369

Plink86+

395

335

Plink/LTO

495

419

PolyLibrarian

249

209

.RTLink

295

265

.RTLink/Plus

495

419

OBIECT-ORIENTED TOOLS

Objective-C

249

225

Smalltalk/V

100

85

Smalltalk/V 286

200

169

OS/2 TOOLS

Brief

249

CALL

CASE:PM for C

1493

1420

Epsilon

195

159

MKS LEX & YACC

349

279

MS OS/2 Pres. Manager Toolkit

500

349

MultiScope for OS/2

449

PCYACC

695

625

PI Editor

249

225

Smalltalk/V PM

495

369

Vitamin C (OS/2)

345

279

PASCAL LANGUAGE

Asynch PLUS

149

115

B-tree Filer

123

109

MS QuickPASCAL

99

69

Object Professional

150

109

Power Tools PLUS/5.0

149

109

Topaz

99

89

Topaz Multi-user

149

135

Turbo Analyst

99

89

TurboMAGIC

199

Turbo Pascal 5.5

150

105

Turbo Pascal 5.5 Professional

250

175

Turbo-Plus 5.5

199

159

Turbo Professional 3.0

123

109

SOURCE MAINTENANCE

Codan

393

345

Code Check

493

469

MKS Make

149

119

MKS RCS

189

149

MKS Software Mgmt. Team

299

239

PolyMake

179

149

PVCS Professional

495

419

SMS

495

399

SOURCEDOC

99

89

TLIB

139

109

5 Station LAN

419

339

WINDOWS (MS) TOOLS

Actor 3.0

895

719

Asymetrix Toolbook

395

CALL

Bridge Toolkit

695

659

Case:W

795

759

C-Talk/Views

450

375

dBFast/Windows

395

335

DialogCoder

499

435

Graphics Server SDK

495

419

MS Windows Development Kit

500

349

MultiScope for Windows

379

289

ObjectCraphics

445

365

ProtoView

695

625

WindowsMAKER

595

535

WinTrieve

395

339

WNDX GUI Toolbox

499

449

SPECIAL DEALS!!

Microsoft Buy One, Get One FREB

Buy any MS Quick language or a
Microsoft Mouse, and get one of the
following FREE: MS Flight Simulator,
PC Tools, or Sign Designer. (Mail
included coupon directly to Microsoft.)

Zortech C++ Developer's Edition
2.1, C++A^iews Bundle

Get the first and only native C+-!-
compiler supporting MS Windows, plus
over 60 C++ object classes for a
special low price of $595!

Borland's Turbo C++ Professional
Competitive Upgrade

Ready to switch from your C compiler
to Borland's Turbo C++ Professional?
It's easy and inexpensive-just S 1 39 at
Programmer's Paradise. Call for details.

Objective-C

For Microsoft C programmers interested
in gaining the benents of object-oriented
technology without losing the familiarity,
efficiency & portability or C. Augments
C with an object data type, a message
expression and a class definition
mechanism.

List: S249 Ours: $223

Guaranteed Best Prices! J^!^J^^

VAKcetera

Want more product information
on the items in the gold box to
the right? TryFAXcetero!!
Just pick up vour FAX phone

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code listed below each product
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LIST OURS

SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

LIST OURS

XENIX/UNIX

BLAST UNIX/XENIX

495

395

Epsilon

193

169

Interactive Products

CALL

CALL

LPI-COBOL

1495

1199

LPI-FORTRAN

995

799

MetaWare High C

895

849

Microport Products

CALL

CALL

MKS RCS

395

335

MKS Trilogy

119

105

PI Editor

349

319

SCO Products

CALL

CALL

VEDIT PLUS

283

249

ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS

APL-PLUS

695

349

Dan Bricklin's Demo II

199

159

dBx/dBPort

600

459

Cuido

249

CALL

Lattice RPC

1600

1285

MKS AWK

99

79

Opt- Tech Sort/Merge

149

119

PC Scheme

95

79

Personal Rexx

150

139

APPLICATION SOFTWARE

COMMUNICATIONS

BLAST II

250

225

Carbon Copy Plus

199

129

Laplink III

150

99

PC Anywhere III

145

99

Procomm Plus

99

63

SideTalk

120

99

DESKTOP PUBLISHING

Adobe Products

CALL

CALL

Corel Draw!

593

399

HALO DPE

195

139

PageMaker

795

509

Ventura Publisher

895

549

MATHEMATICS

Derive

200

179

MathCAD

495

315

Mathematica 386

695

625

SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

AutoCAD Release 1 0

3000

CALL

AutoSketch

150

95

ChiWriler

150

129

CSS

495

469

DADiSP

895

759

Design CAD 3-D

400

292

Drafix Windows CAD

695

CALL

EXACT

475

380

Generic CADD Level 3

350

289

LABTECH Acquire

195

179

LABTECH Notebook

995

779

MICRO-CAP III

1495

1269

Our Guarantee... ^

Products listed here are backed
by the following guarantee':

Should you see one of these
products listed at a lower
price in another ad in this
magazine, CALL US!
We'll beat the price, and stiU
offer our same quality
service and support.
Terms of Offer:

• Otter good through November 30, 1 990

• Applicable to pricing on current versions
of software listed; Nov. issue prices only.

• Offer does not apply towards obvious
errors in competitors' ads.

• Subject to same terms and conditions.

Oread PCB

1495

CALL

PC-MATLAB

695

625

PC TEX

249

229

SCHEMA III

495

449

Systat w/ Svgraph

895

759

Tango PCB Series II

595

559

TECH-GRAPH-PAD

395

319

T'

595

479

SPREADSHEETS

Lotus 1 -2-3

595

389

Microsoft Excel

495

319

Quattro Professional

495

329

SuperCalcS

495

319

UTILITIES

386MAX5.0

130

99

above DISC

119

64

AboveMEM

80

72

Bootcon

60

55

Cache 86

50

39

FASTBACK Plus

189

109

HeadRoom 2.0

130

109

Hijaak

150

105

Hold Everything

199

159

Inf'oSpotter

80

69

MACE 1990

149

129

Magellan

195

CALL

MKS Toolkit

249

199

MOVE 'EM

89

79

Norton Commander

149

99

Norton Utilities 5.0

179

129

PC Tools Deluxe 6.0

149

95

Pizazz Plus

149

79

Precursor

96

79

SitBack

99

90

Software Carousel

90

72

SpinRite II

89

75

Squish Plus

100

75

Switch-It

100

69

Tree 86

90

69

Turbo EMS 5.0

100

89

UpShot

95

89

XTreePro Gold

129

109

ZENO

269

239

WORD PKOCEsslNCj

Ami

199

129

Microsoft Word for Windows

495

349

WordPerfect 5.1

495

CALL

SOFTWARE FOR SUN

WORKSTATIONS

Basmark QuickBASIC

CALL

CALL

C Programmer's Toolbox/ Sun

495

449

Edix

425

339

EMACS for Sun

395

369

Informix

CALL

CALL

Lotus 1-2-3 for Sun

CALL

CALL

Mathematica for Sun

CALL

CALL

MetaWare High C

895

849

NeuralWorks Professional II

4095

CALL

Panel Plus (Sun 3)

1595

1355

WordPerfect for Sun

495

CALL

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Phone Orders

Hours 8:30 AM-7 PM EST. We accept
MC.Visa, AMEX. Domestic shipments,
please add $5 per item for shipping'
handling by UPS ground. For domestic
COD shipments, please add S3. Rush
service available.

Mail or FAX Orders

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phone number.

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Dealers and Corporate Accounts

Call for information.

Unbeatable Prices

We'll beat the competition's advertised
prices. Prices subject to change
without notice.

Return Policy

30 days. Due to copyright laws, we
cannot take back software with the disk
seal broken unless authorized by the
manufacturer. Returned product must
include R.A. number.

IMA

;SOfIWARE

Menuet - The GUI Development Toolkit.
Menuet is a sophisticated, simple solution for Graphical
User Interface (GUI) development that provides over 400
callable functions and supports most all GUI constructs.

MetaWINDOW, from
Metagraphics Software
Corporation, and CSS''CCI,
from Graphics Software
Systems. Other Ithaca Street
products include: UpShot,
PiXelPrint, Font-Tools, Icon-
Tools, and Baby Driver.

1«

List: $325 Ours: $279

FAX.fKTO #2263-0003

WindowsMAKER

WindowsMAKER is a code generator that builds
complete Windows 3.0 applications. Prototype
the entire user interface (menus, icons, buttons,
controls, etc.) in a WYSIWYG editor, then
generate Microsoft C code for MS-Windows.
Custom code is preserved during regeneration.
WindowsMAKER handles message processing,
memory management, child windows, debugging,
compiler settings, MDI and much more.
Generates excellent C code. Port DOS
programs to Windows in record time. A must if
you are writing applications for Windows in C.
30 day money-back guarantee.

List: $595 Ours: $535 r.VXi

W"ii«b*-s.MAKER ;

1

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WATCOM C8.0/386

WATCOM C8.0/386 is a 100% ANSI C optimizing compiler and run-time
library for the Intel 80386 architecture
generating applications for 32-bit protected
mode. With C8. 0/386, you can go beyond the
640K DOS limit. Library and source code
compatibility with Microsoft C simplifies many
porting projects. Significant features include:
protected mode version of the compiler; VIDEO
full-screen source-level debugger: Microsoft
library and source compatibility; execution
profiler; high-performance linker; graphics
library.

Standard List: $895 Ours: $719
Professional List: $1295 Ours: $1099

#1683-0001

SpontaneousAssembly

An assembly language library that lets you produce the fastest, tightest

possible programs with the same ease you'd
expect from a high-level language. It
includes an impressive collection of over
700 functions and macros for high-speed
text windowing, heap management, array
searching and sorting, critical error
management, 32/64 bit integer math, and
much more! Comprehensive 750-f page
manual. Full source code. No royalties.
Easy integration with C.
"If you program in assembly language,
you gotta have SpontaneousAssembly."
■ Michael Abrash

DEVELOPMENT Ust: $395 Ours; $189 F.\Xa(.m #2614-0001

basetm

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Circle 289 on Reader Service Card

WHAT'S NEW

SOFTWARE • PROGRAMMING

Saber-C 3. 0 combines an incremental linker, static and run-time
error detection, source-level debugging, and a multiwindow
interface in one system.

Unix Programming
Environment Has
All the Tools

Saber Software has
brought its environment
for Unix workstations up to
speed to support all phases of
C programming, including
development, debugging, test-
ing, and maintenance. Saber-
C 3.0 lets you debug code han-
dled by the interpreter,
object code produced by the
compiler, or libraries. You
can use Saber-C to set break-
points and to step, trace, and
debug object and source code
modules.

Saber-C includes a multi-
window graphical interface
that you can customize by de-
fining commands and new but-
tons. Saber-C automatically
detects more than 250 static
and run-time errors.

Saber-C runs on Sun-3 and
Sun386i workstations, SPARC-
stations, DECstations run-
ning Ultrix, and ASCII and X
Window System terminals.
Price: $2495.
Contact: Saber Software,
Inc . , 1 85 Alewife Brook
Pkwy., Cambridge, MA
02138, (617) 876-7636.
Inquiry 1271.

Zinc Releases
Class Library
forC++

With Zinc's user inter-
face class library for
Borland's Turbo C-l~l- you
can create a user interface for a
DOS application without hav-
ing to develop the interface
from scratch. The Zinc Inter-
face Library 1 .0 lets you write
applications that run in true
graphics and text modes, in-
cluding on dual monitors,
from one set of source code
without recompiling or re-

linking, the company says.
The library also supports 20
input field types with built-in
cut-and-paste and full Undo
and Redo.

By calling the Zinc BBS,
you can download additional
capabilities for Zinc 1 .0, in-
cluding support for both the
MetaWindows Graphics Li-
brary and Borland's Graphical
Interface.

Other features on the BBS
include enhanced scroll-bar
support to provide both verti-
cal and horizontal scroll bars
in the window object, in ad-
dition to vertical scroll-bar
support for text and matrix
objects. Zinc has also added a
new List object with full in-
sert, delete, and modify
capabilities.

The library exploits C-l-4-
features such as virtual func-
tions, class inheritance, oper-
ator overloading, and multiple
inheritance.

Price: $199.95; source code,
$200.

Contact: Zinc Software,
Inc., 405 South 100 East, Suite
201, Pleasant Grove, UT
84062, (800) 638-8665 or
(801) 785-8900; BBS, (801)
785-8997.
Inquiry 1272.

High-Level
Routines for the Mac
User Interface

Maclnterface 1 . 1 auto-
matically implements
many segments of the Mac
interface. The library supports
the Undo and Redo of Edit
menu commands without re-
quiring coding on your part.
It provides automatic support
for the dragging, growing,
and zooming of modal and
modeless dialog boxes.

The program is compatible
with Lightspeed C and Pascal,
MPW C and Pascal, and sev-
eral Modula compilers.
Price: $295.

Contact: Holder, Egan &
Co., Inc., 4148 Spring Hill
Rd., Midland, MI 48640,
(800) 782-9976 or (517)
636-7373.
Inquiry 1273.

Structured Design
Analysis for Windows

System Architect 2. 1, the
CASE tool for structured
design analysis that runs
under Microsoft Windows, lets
you take an entity model sim-
ilar to that of the IBM Reposi-
tory and expand it graphical-
ly to show both key and nonkey
data. It supports supertype
and subtype relationships and
provides for automatic syn-
chronization of any two data
dictionary types.

System Architect runs on
an IBM AT with Microsoft
Windows 3.0. An OS/2 Pre-
sentation Manager version is
scheduled to ship by year's
end.

Price: $1395; Booch Object
Diagraming option,
$495.

Contact: Popkin Software &
Systems, Inc., 11 Park Place,
19th Floor, New York, NY
10007,(212)571-3434. •
Inquiry 1274.

continued

New MitemView Supports
the MaclRMA Family

Version 1 . 1 of Mitem-
View, the HyperCard
development tool that lets
you create graphical user in-
terfaces for accessing IBM
mainframe applications, sup-
ports Digital Communica-
tions Associates' MaclRMA
products, including coaxial
and LAN-based System Net-
work Architecture gateways.
Mitem says 1.1 uses DCA's
MaclRMA application pro-
gramming interface to pro-
vide connectivity to the host .

MitemView simplifies
the connection to VAX and

IBM 3278 and 3279 main-
frames, providing easier
access and information re-
trieval for local processing
without requiring modifica-
tion of the host code. Mitem-
View already supported Tri-
Data's Net Way and Avatar's
MacMainFrame products .
Price: Developer's toolkit,
$995; MaclRMA driver,
$495.

Contact: Mitem Corp.,
2105 Hamilton Ave., Suite
190, San Jose, CA 95125,
(408)559-8801.
Inquiry 1275.

62 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Times Change.
The Need To Protect Doesn't.

o

RAINBOW TECHNOLOGIES

9292 Jeronimo Road. Irvine. CA 92718
TEL: (714) 454-2100 ■ (800) 852-8569 (Outside CA)
FAX: (714) 454-8557 • AppleLink: D3058

Rainbow Technologies. Ltd.. Shirlev Lodae. 470 London Road
Slough. Berkshire SL3 SQY.TEL: 0753-41512 ■ FAX: 0753-43610

hether you're protecting
frontiers and temples in
Manchuria, or software
and data on the PC or
Mac, the Great Wall is a lesson
Rainbow Technologies has learned
very well.

Software developers must deal
daily with the consequences of
unauthorized
copies and millions
of dollars in lost
revenue. At the
same time, both
individual and
corporate users
must be able to make and distribute
copies within legal guidelines.

Today's information-driven
companies must secure their data
files against theft and unauthorized
access. No less than protecting
personal wealth and
tangible property,
guarding data files is
a necessary invest-
ment in competitive
survival.

Protecting
"intellectual
property"
is the
security
challenge for
the '90s. Which
is why Rainbow
Technologies builds a
little of the Great Wall into
every key it makes.

For developers, the Software
Sentinel"' family of
keys protects IBM,
PS/2 and compatible
software, while Eve '
guards software for
the Mac. Rainbow's
DataSentry" is the
solution for PC data
protection.

Software and data protection from Rainbow
Technologies. Information on how you can have a
little piece of the Great Wall to protect your software
and data worldwide is as close as a toll-free call.

Copyright ©1990 Rainbow Technologies. Inc.

Circle 300 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 301)

How to make the work go fas

For advanced applications like CAD/CAM, presentation graphics or
financial modeling, you can't go wrong with the PowerMate® 386'V25S.
For far less than comparable 386 systems, you get 25MHz speed, 2MB

CsC

Computers and Communications

ter and the money go slower

of RAM (easily expandable to 16MB via SIM modules) and a 32K memory
cache. You also get something you can't get from anyone else at any price:
NEC. For more information call 1-800-NEC-INFO.

e «»0 NEC T.cnnoiog»i t%c _ ^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^K

NEC

Circle 255 on Reader Service Card

WHAT'S NEW

SOFTWARE . BUSINESS

Ask and you shall receive is one of Muse 's concepts. Another
is to provide only the data that you need.

Occam Says,

Go Ahead, Ask Me

Even with the best graphi-
cal user interface, it can
still be difficult to find the
right data in an acre-size
spreadsheet and graph it
appropriately.

Occam is addressing this
problem with its new program
for the Mac, called Muse.
Muse lets you perform data re-
trieval, manipulation, and in-
terpretation using English lan-
guage through the keyboard
or other input device such as
the Voice Navigator. The
program also lets you pull only
the data you need from vast
data sets and graph it
immediately on your com-
mand.

Muse can import data in
flat files, ASCII, DBF, WKS,
and several other formats.
The program organizes data in
databooks, which you can set
up to reflect company divisions
such as personnel, manufac-
turing, or sales. As you ask or
type questions in English,
Muse retrieves the relevant
data and puts it into a work-
book with the level of detail
you need. When you want to
graph a workbook, you simply
type or say, "Graph that,"
and Muse does the rest, auto-
matically numbering graphs
by titles, legends, axis identifi-
cation, and data identifica-
tion. Graphs can be 2-D, 3-D,
or animations.

Occam is releasing Muse
to a number of corporate sites
this fall, with general distri-
bution targeted for 1991.
Price: $695.

Contact: Occam Research
Corp., 85 Main St., Water-
town, MA 02172, (617)
923-3545.
Inquiry 1276.

Generate Database
Applications
with PAIVI

PAM (for Program Auto-
mated Method) 2.0, the
relational DBMS that in-
cludes an application generator
and natural user interface,
adds new data types, new rela-
tional capabilities, matrix
table processing, expanded
database capacity, and many
other features, while running
in less than 256K bytes of
RAM on the IBM PC.

For companies seeking to
learn more about how to
enter and succeed in the
world marketplace, Gate-
Waze has developed x-prime
World Trader. The pro-
gram's four integrated data-
base modules let you look at
information in a variety of
ways through the use of
hyperlinking.

The Market Analyst mod-
ule provides a set of tools for
analyzing the 50 major trad-
ing partners of the U.S. ; the
World Atlas module gives
up-to-date information on
125 countries; the Info-
Deck supplies a directory of

Designed for nonprogram-
mers, PAM 2.0 lets you design
applications with built-in
field verification. Support for
transaction processing allows
multiple fields in multiple
databases to be updated in a
single screen. PAM 2.0 also
supports mathematical oper-
ations for multiple fields in
databases from one numeric
entry, allowing for easy
update.

Advanced relational capa-
bilities link one database to
multiple records in another
database without the need for
common fields.

international contacts; and
the Export Reference Guide
offers information on the ex-
porting process. Other fea-
tures include currency,
weight, and measures infor-
mation; time-zone calcula-
tions; and an international
glossary.

The program runs on the
IBM PC with 512K bytes of
RAM.
Price: $289.

Contact: GateWaze, Inc.,
66 Summer St., P.O. Box
743, Manchester, MA
01944, (800) 752-4711 or
(508) 526-7406.
Inquiry 1279.

Version 2.0 supports Hew-
lett-Packard laser printers and
mail merge.
Price: $145 to $345.
Contact: Software Compos-
ers, Inc., 4500 Newcombe
Dr., Piano, TX 75093, (214)
985-8018.
Inquiry 1277.

EASI Puts Forms
and Database
in One Package

FormType 3.0 provides a
forms creator and dBASE-
compatible relational data-
base in one package, letting
you use the information
that's collected in day-to-day
operations to help you make
business decisions.

FormType 3.0 supports
form fill-in and report genera-
tion. A LAN version is
available.

With FormType 3.0, you
can link several different form
types to the same database.
This lets you store common in-
formation such as name, ad-
dress, or sales history in one
place, although it is used re-
peatedly in various office
forms, Easy Automation Sys-
tems says.

You can perform relational
database operations and inte-
grate and transfer common
information among the forms,
saving keystrokes and reduc-
ing input errors.

FormType 3.0 runs on the
IBM PC with 640K bytes of
RAM. A run-time version
lets valve-added resellers and
OEMs insert a company logo
and application name into
shrink-wrapped form sets.
Price: $229.95; run-time
version, $99.95; LAN version,
$695 per server.
Contact: Easy Automation
Systems, Inc., 5555 Triangle
Pkwy., Suite 440, Norcross,
GA 30092, (800) 627-3274 or
(404) 840-0474.
Inquiry 1278.

continued

Put an International Business Expert
in Your PC

66 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

D M P-6

SERIES

Hewlett Pocka
DraftPro' DXL

in^ly stated,
we beat the pants
off the competition.

O.K., let's settle this perfor- ^^^^^V
mance thing once and for all. ^Ss^^^^S.
SPEED. In a recent compori- ^..-^J^ j^MI 5^^^^
son of throughput for the three BMH^B ^ option c
top selling plotters, the Houston ^^^^H ^'^'^^
Instrument DMP-61 DL came
out on top. One-third faster than the CalComp 1023.
Over three times faster than the H P DraftPro DXL. In

other words, whatever

Plotter Throughput- I . • L

(Pereent of plot complete d in 2:36) 7°" P'°' ""^

100°''° ^^^H ^i^" ^ou'^ ^^1^^ you

75o/„_TP|B ^^_«^B all afternoon with them.

J |||| QUALITY. We also

v| fjMjJ} deliver unsurpassed

25%- quality with identical

mechanical resolution

HiDMP- coicompHRDrcftP™ to ColComp ond HP,

. Turn your HI DMP Series plott(
' scanner with SCAN-CAD. This
option attaches to your plotter to
E-size drawings— all at a fractii

HIDMP- CalComp HP DraftPro
61 DL 1023 DXL

T A ta™ and superior same pen

J-CAD-Opoon ^pertPbiiHy.

VERSATILITY. Only the

es to your plotter to scan up to Houston Instrument plotters

.ings-dlatafradionofthe ^ff^^ Q^j^l^ g^^le™ ^hg^e
■ a stand-alone scanner. . ■ . ■ ■

any size drawing can be
easily scaled and plotted at the current media size,
plus the capability to save up to six different user
configurations in memory— all standard.
PRICE. Best of all, the HI DMP-60 DL Series helps
you beat the pants off your competition all at a
very competitive price. For more information on the
DMP-60 DL Series plotters call 1-800-444-3425.

HOUSTDN INSTRUMENT.

A Summagraphics Company

*D-size Columbia plot using AutoCAD Release 10 with the HP 7585 driver on a COMPAQ 386 16 MHZ computer with moth coprocessor. Plotters were set to manufacturer's
recommended settings for pen and media combinations used for check plot and final plots. 9 1 990 Summagraphics Corporation. Seymour, CT 06483. All rights reserved.
For IBM/Compatible information circle 163, For Macintosh information circle 164, For Reseller inquiries circle 165 on Reader Service Card.

'Tie only pdn

^ mWindow

As the people responsible for
the Maiosoff Wmdows^enviiDnraent,
we believe we're in a good position
to offer some very sound advice on
Windows Computing. And that,

as you've probably guessed by now,
is the Microsoft Mouse.

You see, the Mouse allows you
to navigate the Windows environment
and applications with untold ease.

For more informatim, call (800) 541-1261, Dept. M29. Outside the U.S. and Canada, call (206) 882.8661 In Canada, call (416) 673-7638. ©1990 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft an

As well as unparalleled accuracy. VisitadealerandcheckitoutfQr

Furthermore, we've made the yourself We think you'll see our point

decision to buy a Mouse even easier. g-

Now itfe available either with software, IwUCfOSOtt

or on its own for the purist.

Making it all make sense

he Microsoft logo are registered trademarks and Windows and Making it all make sense are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. The Microsoft Mouse design is patented. (Design Patent #302, 426.)

WHAT'S NEW

SOFTWARE • SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

Visualize Protein
Structures
on tlie IBM PC

A molecular graphics tool
called the Protein Visual-
izer lets you visualize how
different chemicals and other
substances interact with vari-
ous molecules. The program
lets you create 3-D models of
complex protein structures and
rotate, separate, and other-
wise manipulate molecules for
further study.

With the program, you can
overlay up to four mixed-mode
models at the same time. The
overlays can show the interac-
tion of substrates in an active-
site cleft or hormones and their
receptors, and capture the
results.

Protein Visualizer features
zooming, full-color space fill-
ing, and all-atom or main-
chain display of up to 5000
atoms.

The program requires a
286 with VGA capability and
640K bytes of RAM. A hard
disk drive is recommended.
Price: $495.

Contact: Synthetic Genetics,
10455 Roselle St., San Diego,
CA 92121, (619)587-0320.
Inquiry 1280.

The Protein Visualizer lets molecular biologists and immunolo-
gists visualize protein structures in 3-D.

Real-Time Process
Modeling with OS/2

With RT-Graphics, you
can create and edit
graphical symbols and inte-
grate them with sensor moni-
toring, simulation, and other
real-time applications running
under OS/2 Extended Edition
and Presentation Manager.

Animated presentations
can be in the form of histo-
grams, dials, fluid levels, or
other graphics. You can set up
an application so that a
change in the graphical display
of a process is reflected in

the related alphanumeric text.
This capability lets the pro-
gram display numeric repre-
sentations of sensor output
values with their associated
graphics symbols.
Price: $1100; developer's li-
brary, $800.

Contact: Commercial Soft-
ware Dept. , Farradyne Sys-
tems, Inc., 3206 Tower Oaks
Blvd., Rockville, MD 20852,
(800) 828-7863 or (301)
468-5568.
Inquiry 1281.

In addition to showing how your Mac CAD drawings will work,
vPower can revise a drawing with new specifications and
parameters, making multiple versions of the same drawing.

What-lf CAD
Analysis

Once you've completed a
mechanical, architectur-
al, or other drawing in Versa-
CAD, Claris CAD, PICT, or
DXF format on the Mac, you
can use vPower to describe the
motion and rotation of ob-
jects. This what-if tool for
CAD lets you see how your
design works. A spreadsheet
lets you assign up to eight
value sets to an unlimited num-
ber of variables.

vPower runs on the Mac
Plus with a recommended hard
disk drive.
Price: $799.

Contact: Vision Software,
3 160 De La Cruz Blvd. , Suite
104, Santa Clara, CA 95054,
(408) 748-8411.
Inquiry 1282.

Digital Elevation
Model Data
on CD-ROM

Two companies recently re-
leased digital elevation data
from the U.S. Geological
Survey on CD-ROM.

Rocky Mountain's CD-
ROM set of 3-arc-second
terrain elevation data has the
contiguous U.S., Hawaii, and
Puerto Rico.

Price: Complete set of five
CD-ROMs, $3000; one CD-
ROM, $1000.
Contact: Rocky Mountain
Communications, Inc., 12844
West Iliff Ave. , Lakewood,
CO 80228, (303) 988-3395.
Inquiry 1283.

Micro Map & CAD's
CD-ROMs are available
in two grids: a 3-arc-second
grid and a 30-arc-second grid
for the entire U.S.
Price: Complete set of six
CD-ROMs, $5000; one CD-
ROM, $1000.
Contact: Micro Map &
CAD, P.O. Box 621135, Lit-
tleton, CO 80162, (303)
973-2768.
Inquiry 1284.

Solve Math and
Thermophysical
Problems

In addition to solving alge-
braic and initial-value dif-
ferential equations, the Engi-
neering Equation Solver (EES)
has a physical-property data-
base to help you solve prob-
lems in the thermal sciences.

EES runs on the Macin-
tosh with 1 MB of RAM and
supports a math coprocessor
if you have one.
Price: $400.

Contact: F-Chart Software,
4406 Fox Bluff Rd., Madison,
WI 53562, (608) 836-8536.
Inquiry 1285.

70 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

We've
got a new 2MB

WQRM.

Now

we're fishing for
ideas fix)m you.

Introducing the Optical Card, the remarkable new
I personal data storage and retrieval medium from
■ Canon. An IBM AT-compatible RW-10 ReaderA/Vriter
uses a laser to read and write up to two Megabytes of
digitized text, graphics or sound on the Optical Card
(shown here actual size). Data can be added, but
not erased, and isn't susceptible to magnetic or
electrostatic fields.

The Optical Card and RW-10 combine speed,
high reliability and convenience that just cry out
for the development of entirely new systems
applications. And that's where you come in.
Don't let this "big one" get away Find out more
about the Optical Card by calling Bruno Dosso at
Canon at 516-488-6700, ext. 4535.

© 1990 Canon U.S.A.. Inc.. One Canon Plaza. Lake Success. NY 11042

Canon

Circle 67 on Reader Service Card

WHAT'S NEW

SOFTWARE • OTHER

Bright

Hue 1^

Soturation

Bl Bl B~

r

Ask • Me Authorin

m

Once you 've captured a photo with Ask*Me, you can manipulate
image hue, contrast, and other attributes.

Glue for Multimedia
on the Mac and
the IBM PC

Two new programs help you
combine video with sound,
graphics, and animation.
One runs on the IBM PC, the
other on the Mac.

new version of
Ask*Me— a program that

integrates animation, voice,
sound, graphics, and images
into multimedia presenta-
tions—supports PCX image
separation and manipulation
and the ability to pan across
images larger than your
screen.

With Ask*Me 2000 and its
English-like programming lan-
guage called Stratos, you can
combine images from Auto-
desk Animator, video cap-
ture boards, PCX-compatible
paint programs, and bit-
mapped font packages that are
in the GEM format with
voice and sound to create inter-
active presentations. The
program also supports loop-
ing, for canned, repetitive
presentations. While the pro-
gram includes Stratos, no
programming experience is
needed to create most appli-
cations.

Ask*Me uses its own
graphical user interface and
comes in two versions:
Ask*Me 2000, for the casual
user, and Ask*Me Profes-
sional. The professional ver-
sion includes a multiuser cus-
tomizable image database that
can open up to 256 files at
once and supports full-motion
video. This version also has
an optional Display program
for distributing run-time pre-
sentations. Run-time capability
is standard with Ask*Me
2000.

Ask*Me requires at least a

286 with a 28-ms or faster hard
disk drive, 7 MB of free hard
disk space, 640K bytes of
RAM, and VGA graphics.
Price: $495 for regular ver-
sion; $1795 for professional
version; $195 for profession-
al run-time license.
Contact: Ask*Me Informa-
tion Center, a division of Inno-
vative Communication Sys-
tems, 2534 26 Ave. S, Fargo,
ND 58103, (701)293-1004.
Inquiry 1286.

Unlike MacroMind's Di-
rector, which is a tool for
creating professional-quality
animation on the Macintosh,
the company's MediaMaker
is for nontechnical people who
want to create relatively sim-
ple video presentations.

MediaMaker is divided
into two parts: collections and
sequences. Collections are
media databases, snippets of
video, compact-disk audio,
Mac audio, graphics, and ani-
mations. You play back the

With their complex file
structures and file
buffering mechanisms, Xe-
nix and Unix systems are
susceptible to data loss when
power is removed from the
computer before it can write
the buffers to disk. A pro-
gram called PowerMon
monitors signals from your

media selections by double-
clicking on a picon, Macro-
Mind's term for a visual cue of
an image.

To create video presenta-
tions, you drag picons from the
collection window to the se-
quence window, arranging and
rearranging the media in de-
sired order and editing the
length of each clip. You can
also synchronize other media
such as CD audio and graph-
ics. To use the program, it's
best if you can tap into exist-
ing video libraries, the com-
pany says.

To use MediaMaker, you
should have a Macintosh with
support for color, a videodisk
player, CD-ROM audio, a digi-
tizing board, and a videotape
recorder. A color Mac is not
required.
Price: $495.

Contact: MacroMind, Inc.,
410 Townsend St., Suite 408,
San Francisco, CA 94107,
(415) 442-0200.
Inquiry 1287.

UPS and, when it detects a
power loss, issues messages
to users that the system may
have to shut down if power
isn't restored. If the power
does not return within a cer-
tain number of minutes,
PowerMon flushes every-
thing in the system's buffers
to disk, preventing data loss.

Hand Recognition
for Windows
and the Mac

Datacap, developer of the
Paper Keyboard hand-
writing recognition program
for the Macintosh, now has a
version for Microsoft Win-
dows 3.0 that reads handwrit-
ten characters on paper forms
directly from an off-the-shelf
scanner. It recognizes
names, addresses, dates, num-
bers, and multiple-choice
check boxes without having to
convert written characters to
typed or printed text.

Datacap says that Paper
Keyboard encounters, on the
average, one character out of
every 20 that it can't identify.
When that happens, the cor-
rection portion of the program
kicks in. With corrections,
the program recognizes about
20 to 25 characters a second.
Paper Keyboard also supports
automated verification.

Datacap claims 99.9 per-
cent accuracy with a target
confidence of 9 (you can
choose target-confidence levels
from a scale of 1 to 10).

On the Mac or IBM PC
with Windows 3.0, the pro-
gram requires 2 MB of
RAM, a hard disk drive, and a
forms layout package. You
also need an optical scanner.
Price: $895.

Contact: Datacap, Inc., 5
West Main St., Elmsford, NY
10523, (914) 347-7133.
Inquiry 1288.

PowerMon runs on SCO
Unix, SCO Xenix, and Unix
systems from Sun, DEC, and
IBM.

Price: $149.

Contact: Systems Enhance-
ment Corp. , 761 Spirit of St.
Louis Blvd., Chesterfield,
MO 63005, (314) 532-2855.
Inquiry 1289.

Protect Your Unix Data from Power Loss

72 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

...The Perfect Gift

Reward the computer enthusiasts on your
gift list with a year's subscription to BYTE —
the definitive guide to personal computing.

Each gift will include 12 issues, plus
a bonus issue dedicated to IBM PC's.
Your first gift will cost only g22.95 with
additional gifts costing even less; only
019.95 each - both great money saving
rates when you consider that one year of
BYTE piu-chased at the newsstand would
cost (Canada: first gift Cg33.95,
additional gifts C029.95 each.)

Don't get caught in the hoUday rush,
send us your gift fist today or call
1-800-257-9402 and we'll do the rest.
For Canadian orders, call 609-426-5535.

TE!§»S I want to send gift subscHptious to the f oUowmg
people and save money off the newsstand price!

TO: (1st Gift - 822.95; Canada CS33.95)

Name

Address

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(Each additional gift - gl9.95: Canada 829.95 each)

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...The Perfect Gift

R.eward the computer enthusiasts on your
gift list with a year's subscription to BYTE —
the definitive guide to personal computing.

Each gift will include 12 issues, plus
a bonus issue dedicated to IBM PC's.
Youi' first gift w-ill cost only $22.95 with
additional gifts costing even less; only
^19.95 each - both great money saAdng
rates when you consider that one year of
BYTE purchased at the newsstand would
cost ^2! (Canada: first gift C^33.95,
additional gifts Cg29.95 each.)

Don't get caught in the holiday rush,
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EXPERT ADVICE

COMPUTING AT CHAOS MANOR ■ Jerry Pournelle

^ Multimedia Video

When Jerry combines
computers, video
cameras, and VCRs,
seeing is believing

All of us in the computer busi-
ness get used to two kinds of
video. On the one hand, there
is the full-motion video you
see on your TV. This is known as NTSC,
for reasons that don't matter. What does
matter is that it is quite low-resolution
compared to what you see on your com-
puter screen. It has to be, because if it
were high-resolution, the full motion
would be a great deal more complicated.
Full motion, after all, requires on the
order of 30 frames a second if it's not to
look jerky (some older newsreels, as well
as some of the first pictures taken in
space during the Mercury/Gemini days,
use a lower frame rate, which is why they
do look jerky).

A VGA screen has a higher resolution,
but that's also why it's tough to do full-
motion video out of a PC: the amount of
information that would have to flow at
that resolution at 30 frames per second
would swamp the system.

Genlock, Anyone?

On the other hand, a PCompatible is per-
fectly capable of displaying NTSC out-
put, if there is some way to get TV video
into the system: which is where genlock
boards come in. These boards accept
video input, mix it with what comes out
of computer programs, and display the
mixture on-screen. They will also pipe
that mixed signal out to a VCR so that
you can record it. (You can't record that
live-action video on your hard disk
because it wouldn't hold more than a
minute or so; live-action video record-
ings use a lot of megabytes. And yes,
there are some tricks involving video

compression, but that's not important
here.)

This is important to us because Mrs.
Pournelle's Reading Program needs
some good promotional materials. We
figured the best way to do that was to
make videotapes; alas, the problem was,
how do you videotape the output of a
computer? You sure can't just use a video
camera on the screen, as Roberta found;
at least, you can't just use our video cam-
era. The results are awful.

We thought of using an Amiga, which
knows how to put out NTSC output, but I
wrote the program in Microsoft Quick-
BASIC, and it is not easily ported to the
Amiga.

Then I discovered the USVideo TVGA
Video Board at a BYTE Editorial Expo.
It looked to be the answer to our prayers:
this is a PC board that accepts video
camera or other TV input, mixes that
with what's on the screen, and puts the
combination out for recording by a VCR.
Not only that: you can also mix in the
output of Autodesk Animator, which is a
program that, if you have artistic talent
or can hire someone who does, will pro-
duce results best described as amazing.

Want fairies to dance on your screen?
Perhaps a screen background of program
output, with fairies to illustrate your
point? Birds in full color? Really weird
titles? You can get it all from Animator.
In a word, the USVideo board and Ani-
mator seemed the perfect combination
for presenting Roberta's program.

About that time, we discovered Wil-
low Peripherals. Willow also makes a
Genlock Video Board. Moreover, our
copy came with Entropy Engineering's
Video Titler, which will make all sorts
and conditions of high-resolution titles
and screen effects that can be mixed in
with other PC output and stored on
videotape. Now we really had everything
we needed.

Thus, when Larry Aldridge of Ster-
ling Microsystems brought over the
Cheetah Gold 486, we tried to install one

of the genlock boards. There was only
one problem: we didn't have a monitor of
poor-enough quality.

That is, the monitors that we had avail-
able at the time included my Zenith Flat
Technology Monitor, which I use every
day and which is about the best text-work
monitor I know of; the 19-inch Electro-
home monitor, which I have had nearly
forever and which everyone loves; and a
very high-resolution 19-inch Hitachi
monitor primarily used for CAD. None
would work properly: they just don't go
down low enough in frequency to display
NTSC output. Sigh.

I have, somewhere around here, a con-
verter for the Electrohome monitor that
will let it eat NTSC output, but it would
have been a great deal of trouble to get it
out and connect it up, and besides, we
were anxious to get the Cheetah 486 run-
ning with a Sota VGA board and look at
some really high-resolution CAD and
Animator work, which looks terrific on
the Hitachi monitor. Thus, I put both
genlock boards away for another time.

A few weeks later, Alex and his room-
mate tried to get things running on a
Gateway 2000 system, but they had the
same problem: both genlock boards want
a multifrequency monitor, and we didn't
have one. Meanwhile, at Spring Comdex
Roberta had been mightily impressed by
the USVideo demonstration and was now
anxious to get started.

Of course, it never rains but it pours.
Two days later there arrived two multi-
frequency, auto-sync monitors. One was
from Princeton Graphic Systems: I'd met
Princeton's president Tom Anderson at
Spring Comdex and told him my story,
and he'd arranged for an Ultra-14 to be
sent. I knew those worked, because that
is what came with the Northgate system I
reviewed last year. The other monitor
was a Panasonic PanaSync C1391,
which was recommended by Willow as a
good one for use with their board.

After that, things were simple: using
the Gateway 2000 (a good, solid, reliable

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 73

CHAOS MANOR

machine) as the basic engine, we in-
stalled both the Willow and the USVideo
boards, connecting them to the VCR/TV
I keep in the back room up here. Both
boards work with both monitors. The
images on both monitors are rock solid.
Alex and I set up the Willow board with
Video Titler and turned things over to
Roberta— and the adventures began.

Both Willow and USVideo advertise
their products as if reasonably knowl-
edgeable people who aren't computer ex-
perts can use them. We make no doubt at
all that this is true, but it's not simple.
It's going to take time. As Roberta says,
before you can genlock, you have to
understand what genlocking is all about;
and you only think you know that.

First came the Willow manual: she re-
ports that in 12 pages of text, there was
not one single sentence that she under-
stood. Part of it is the terminology, but
some of it is the English: she's not at all
sure some of the sentences actually say
what Willow thinks they say. The US-
Video manual wasn't a lot better.

On the other hand, both companies
have very good telephone technical sup-
port. "They both put up with my stupid

both

genlock boards, you
cannot easily mix
monochrome and color.

questions," is the way Roberta put it. My
guess is that they have no choice, since
these products are going to find their way
to art departments and account execu-
tives, creative people with little com-
puter experience, who will desperately
need the output— genlock stuff can be
spectacular— and they will have less ex-
perience than Roberta, who has, after
all, lived in Chaos Manor during the en-
tire computer revolution.

Technically, both boards work, except
that you cannot easily mix monochrome
and color: Roberta describes that as sim-
ilar to what happens when you watch oil
and water mix, and it seems to be the
same with both boards. Neither one is

easier or harder to use: they're both sim-
ple enough to set up once you have the
right monitor, and both are equally con-
founding when it comes to making the
software do what you want it to.

I wish I were more of an expert on this
subject, because it's important; maybe I
can trigger BYTE's expert test crew to
do a complete evaluation, because I'm
really not competent to tell you which is
the best product in this line. I can tell you
why it's important, and that we have two
systems that are state of the art.

And there, alas, matters stand. Ro-
berta has done the beginnings of some
work. I've seen it, and it's already pretty
good. Not spectacular, but she's only
getting started. I'm sure I'll have more to
say on this next month.

Rogers Specialist

When it came time to hook up a monitor
to the Willow board, we needed a gizmo
to convert a 9-pin video into a 15-pin
video. We put on our safari outfits and
made an expedition into the cable room,
and there among the monsters we found
the cable we needed, but there was a gen-
der problem, so we searched some more.

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74 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 350 on Reader Service Card

EvemhingYfu Ever VJkted In UNIX.

And Less. 1^.95.'

OK. We know it's hard to
believe. So just consider this.
Coherent" is a virtual clone of
UNIX. But it was developed
independently by Mark
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Which means we
don't pay hundreds of
dollars per copy in
licensing fees.

What's more,
Coherent embodies
the original tenet of
UNIX: small is beautiful. This
simple fact leads to a whole host of
both cost and performance advan-
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because there's a lot more to
Coherent than its price.
SMALLER, FASTER. . .BETTER.

Everybody appreciates a good
deal. But what is it that makes small
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For one thing, Coherent gives
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LESS
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Coherent For Santa Cmz
theBM-POAT Operation's
and compatible XENIX 286,
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based machines.

No. of Manuals

1

8

No. of Disks

4

21

Kernel Size

64K

198K

Install Tune

20-30 min.

3-4 hours

Suggested Disk Space

10 meg

30 meg

Min. Memory Required 640K

1-2 meg

Performance*

38.7 sec

100.3 sec

Price

$99.95

$1495.00

"Byte Execl benchmark, 1000 iterations on 20 MHZ 386.

Hardware requirements: L2 meg 5 V4" or 1.4 meg 3^" floppy, and
hard disk. SCSI device driver available soon. Does not run on
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Coherent can reside with DOS. So
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Sounds beautiful, doesn't it?

But small wouldn't be so great if
it didn't do the job it was meant to do.

EVERYTHING UNIX

WAS MEANT TO DO.

Like the original UNIX,
Coherent is a powerful multi-user,
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With a complete UNIX-compatible
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Coherent also comes with Lex
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And with UUCP, the UNIX to

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We could go on, but stop
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AND GUARANTEES.
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*Plus shipping and handling. Coherent is a trademark of Mark
Wilhams Company. UNIX is a trademark of AT&T. XENIX U a
trademark of Microsoft.

CHAOS MANOR

Circle 148 on Reader Service Card

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"Aha," Alex said. "The very thing."

He hauled out a large bag of cable
adapters, gender changers, 9-pin to 25-
pin converters, and other such stuff. It
took me a moment to remember where
I'd got it: just as we were leaving the last
West Coast Computer Faire, I'd stopped
at a booth that sells cables, cable adapt-
ers, data switches, general small parts,
and other such stuff, and grabbed some
of everything in sight on the theory that
they would come in handy. It came to a
bit over $100, and I don't regret a nickel
of it.

Alex noticed the bill: Rogers Special-
ist (27712 Pinehills, Santa Clarita, CA
91351, (805) 251-2520). "We order
from them all the time," he said. "They
deliver what they promise, no nonsense.
Good outfit." This exhausts my knowl-
edge of the firm, but I figure that when I
can identify a good guy, I ought to.

Stony Brook Modula-2

1 was an early enthusiast of Modula-2,
even back in CP/M days; indeed, when
Modula-2 first came out, I was confident
that it would be the language of the fu-
ture, replacing Pascal, C, and BASIC—
truly a language for the rest of us. Of
course, things didn't work out that way.

In my defense, one reason I was so
pleased with Modula-2 was that I had an
early Lilith, a machine that uses Modula-

2 as its assembly language. Modula-2 in
the Lilith environment was a program-
mer's dream: the machine kept track of
versions, and libraries, and what had to
be recompiled, and all the other details
that make programming tedious. With
Lilith, programming was/M«, especially
compared with the other machines avail-
able then. Alas, the Lilith didn't survive.

There have been many problems with
Modula-2. Probably the biggest is that
there haven't been any good, standard
run-time libraries of I/O routines for
PCompatibles and other machines. Al-
though Logitech developed a really neat
debugger, the Logitech compiler, while
quite adequate, is only that. And the
Logitech programming environment has
never been described as fun. Other com-
pilers had some good features, some bad.
The Taylor compiler produces small and
speedy code, but it's not easy to use.

Worse, Modula-2 has design flaws.
Not just the traditional I/O problems that
any Niklaus Wirth language seems to
have, but some odd quirks, such as rigid
enforcement of case sensitivity and odd
variable-name syntax (InOut is not only
legal, but mandatory, but blg_screen
would not be a legal variable name). All
these difficulties can be overcome, but

they're obstacles to learning and enjoy-
ing a language for which there never
were any really good tutorial manuals.

I am happy to say that many of those
problems are no longer relevant.

The Stony Brook compiler comes with
a programming environment that takes
some getting used to, but once learned, it
can actually he fun. The editor is more
than adequate, and the environment does
a good job of keeping track of libraries,
versions, recompilations needed, and
suchlike. It's not a Lilith, but it's easily
the next best thing I've seen.

The Stony Brook documents include
an introduction with lots of examples.
They begin, as they should, by telling
you in exact detail how to set up the envi-
ronment, begin your library manage-
ment, and then write, compile, and run
PROGRAM HELLO. Then they move
on systematically through the different
features of the system.

Moreover, with the Professional pack-
age (will anyone ever admit that some-
thing might be good for amateurs?), you
get not one compiler but two: one that is
fast, perhaps as fast as Borland Turbo
Pascal, and which produces darned good
code; and an optimizing compiler that
produces really good code— small, fast,
tight, and generally neat. Code from this
second compiler is Microsoft object
code-compatible, meaning that you can
link it up to compiled BASIC, C, Micro-
soft Pascal, or FORTRAN code. There
are good instructions on how to do this.

The Stony Brook compiler can pro-
duce code you can debug with Code-
View; Stony Brook also provides a good
debugger of its own, along with a tutorial
on how to use it in the environment.

The Stony Brook package comes with
advertisements and coupons for other
Modula-2 products, all compatible, in-
cluding sorts, B-tree, and a decent I/O li-
brary. I'd like to see more of that sort of
thing: what Modula-2 needs is a body of
compatible libraries of programs and
toolboxes easily available for all flavors
of PCs, and particularly all keyboards
and video boards. This is a good start.

Realistically, I suppose, Modula-2 has
lost out in the language wars, and the
likelihood that it will surge ahead to cap-
ture the place held by Pascal or C is low.
I think that's a pity: in my judgment,
Modula-2 is more powerful than Pascal
(even Turbo Pascal) and incomparably
easier to use than C. Modula-2 really
shines when you have a large project to
be worked on by a number of program-
mers: with Modula-2, you really can
have the programmers get together to
write Definition modules and then work

76 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

always find something in the last place
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Circle 266 on Reader Service Card

CHAOS MANOR

apart on their implementation, yet have
some hope that when they get back to-
gether, the code will run with no side ef-
fects. Of the other languages, only Ada
can make that claim with any honesty.

This isn't meant to knock Turbo Pas-
cal, which is a realistic choice for many
programs. Borland provides excellent
support for Turbo Pascal and continues
to improve it and add features.

Then, too, I still like BASIC, and
modern compiled BASICs have incorpo-
rated a number of advanced features
derived from ALGOL, Pascal, and Mod-
ula-2. Given the on-again, off-again na-
ture of the programming I do, I'll prob-
ably stay with QuickBASIC and the
various Crescent tool libraries for most
of my work; however, if I ever went more
nearly full-time as a programmer, I do
believe I'd adopt the Stony Brook Mod-
ula-2 environment, which has hooks to
Windows and OS/2 (you'll still need the
Windows and OS/2 development kits,
understand).

If Stony Brook Modula-2 had existed
in the early days, I think it would have
the place that Turbo Pascal has now, and
more. If you've ever wondered about

1/ Stony
Brook Modula-2 had
existed in the early
days, I think it would
have the place that
Turbo Pascal has now.

Modula-2, or if you tried it and sort of
liked it but gave it up, or if you're looking
for a language, look at Stony Brook Mod-
ula-2. Recommended.

[Editor's note: See "Modula-3" on
page 385.]

Zero Surge

One of the participants in the sciences
conference on BIX told a story of a meet-
ing of meditation people at a European

village near a lake. The guru in charge
told the group to concentrate on the
weather, which they duly changed to
something wildly improbable; the next
day, supposedly, they did it again, this
time changing the weather a dozen times
in the course of an afternoon and playing
merry hob with the local tourists. As in
all such stories, the guru isn't named,
the group isn't named, the lake isn't
named, and the date and year aren't
specified. Moreover, the person telling
the story wasn't there himself, but heard
it from someone who was.

"Great," said I. "Tell you what. Get
that guru to make it rain in Los Angeles
on the afternoon of August 7, 1990. Spe-
cifically, rain in the Hollywood Hills."

I thought no more about it until on Au-
gust 5 came a freak lightning storm and
rain. Then more on the 6th, with a really
spectacular show of lightning and thun-
der. Some of the lightning came quite
close to Chaos Manor, with thunder less
than a second after the flash. Alas, it
didn't rain on the 7th, although there
were showers on the 8th. .. .

However, the lightning got me think-
ing about surge and spike suppressors.

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Take a minute to run Check^lt the next time you have a PC problem. Then
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and send it out for repair? Should you fix a hardware problem yourself? Or,
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The moment you suspect a PC problem, run Check^lt.
It's about time!

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NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 79

CHAOS MANOR

Regular readers may remember The
Great Power Spike that hit Chaos Manor
last year: light bulbs literally exploded,
and the Priam MacDisk on the Mac II
suffered a hit to the power supply, as did
the Mac II itself, although both were
plugged into a commercial surge sup-
pressor. We also lost a Tandon computer,
a TV and VCR, and some other elec-
tronic gear, none plugged into a suppres-
sor; and we did not lose Roberta's ma-
chine, although its surge suppressor

literally died in its defense.

Since then I have learned that a lot
of surge suppressors do not work very
well. The passive metal-oxide varistors
(MOVs) may over time lose their capabil-
ity, especially if subjected to power
spikes. In addition, since most surge
suppressors divert the power surge to
ground, and most LAN and modem sys-
tems have one side of the signal system
grounded, there can be power surges in
the resulting "ground loop."

Note that I say "may" and "can be";
none of this is inevitable. Unfortunately,
many people out there seem determined
to convince you that it is: that if you use
ordinary surge suppressors, you are play-
ing Russian roulette, and you'll probably
lose your expensive computer equipment,
so you had better replace those now.
Even an uninterruptible power supply
(UPS) isn't going to save you, because,
as one article I have here says, "their in-
puts are 'protected' by the very same fif-
teen-cent MOVs as the average surge
suppressor!" There is, according to this,
only one exception to this. Abacus Con-
trols, which licenses their technology
from Zero Surge.

And this leaves me with a dilemma.
It's certainly true that the Zero Surge
protection systems are excellent, better
than the stuff you buy at Radio Shack or
at swap meets; it's true that shunting
power spikes to ground can blow up a
modem. It's true that UPS systems often
rely on MOVs. It's true that MOVs can
die and you won't know it, because doing
a nondestructive test on an MOV requires
extremely sophisticated (and expensive)
test gear.

It's also true that in The Great Power
Spike at Chaos Manor when, due to an
automobile accident, 16,000 volts AC
was shunted into our house wiring, not
only was there no damage to the com-
puters connected to our Clary UPS, but
there was absolutely no damage to the
UPS— we had it tested. Moreover, of the
equipment connected to the off-the-shelf
surge suppressors we use, the only thing
killed was the Mac stuff, which had been
connected to a different— premium! —
brand. Everything else was fine.

So: yes, the Zero Surge suppressors
are qualitatively different, and better,
than the usual device. They don't shunt
power spikes to ground, they work faster,
and they don't deteriorate. You will cer-
tainly be safer with Zero Surge than with
a random MOV device. I sincerely doubt
that you'll be safer with Zero Surge than
with a Clary UPS, or let me put it another
way, I sure don't want to have to be pro-
tected from anything worse than our
Great Power Spike. However, if you have
LANs and modems and generally inter-
connected devices not all connected to
UPS systems, you probably do want to
look into Zero Surge.

It's Binary

I love gadgets. I don't usually have a
chance to write about them, but this is
November and Christmas is coming up.
Perfect time.

The neatest gizmo I've got all year is

continued

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the Amazon Binary Clock, which is not
cheap, but nothing in the house attracts
more attention. It looks like a golden-
mean dimensioned rectangular block of
black plastic about 8 inches tall. There
are three columns of six lights: left col-
umn for hours, middle for minutes, and
right for seconds. They give the time in
binary, which is to say: the bottom row is
1, row two is 2, row three is 4, up to row
six for 32; to get a number, add all lights
that are on. Thus, if 1 , 3, and 4 in a col-
umn are on, the number would be 13 . All
18 lights flash once per second and then
settle into the current time.

Time can be displayed in a 12- or 24-
hour format. Depending on which setting
you choose, the top one or two rows of
hour lights are superfluous. It will take
either 50- or 60-cycle current; it comes
set to 50-cycle, which gives the wrong
time over here, but it's easy to change.

The instructions are complete and
foolproof, and actually, after a few
weeks, you learn to read it fairly well, or
at least I did. This isn't something any-
one needs, but if you're into unusual
things for your mantle or coffee table,
this will do it. I have it on a living room
display table with my collection of ar-
chaeology artifacts: somehow, it seemed
in good company with an ancient Roman
(obscene) oil lamp. And it keeps good
time, too.

Go!

I don't keep track of computer go tourna-
ments, so I don't recall whether COSMO
or Bruce Wilcox's Nemesis-Go master
version from Toyogo is the current cham-
pion, but one of them is, much to the vex-
ation of the Japanese go programmers.
Go is the Japanese national game; it's
played on a board of 19 by 19 lines, the
rules are extremely simple, and the strat-
egy is much more complex than chess.

I long ago became fond of Nemesis-Go
for the Mac and PC, so much so that I
have the PC version on my Zenith Z-386
laptop portable, in case I get stuck in an
airport lounge with nothing to do. (Fat
chance; there's always a deadline, so I
end up writing. Oh, well.) Now, though,
there's another way to have go with you
wherever you are: Toyogo has a dedi-
cated go-playing hand-held machine that
is called Nemesis Igo Dojo.

It plays excellent go— unless I give my-
self a handicap, it will usually beat me—
and it's well designed, with a good user
interface. The screen is easy to see, and
the controls are easy to use. There are
bays to plug in additional modules (not
yet available). I had some trouble figur-
ing out what the controls do— some of it
isn't obvious— but straightening that out
only took reading the manual, maybe 10
minutes of work, after which it's quite
intuitive.

Nemesis Igo Dojo plays by both Chi-
nese and Japanese rules. In Chinese
rules, the handicap stones may be placed
anywhere; the stronger player passes
until the weaker has placed handicap
stones where he wants them. In Japanese
rules, the handicap stones go on fixed
points. In addition to handicaps, there
are levels of play, although the book
doesn't recommend that you use the
weaker ones; as Wilcox says, you won't
become a strong player by watching
weak play. Use the handicap system if the
machine continues to beat you.

The only real defect, so far as I can
tell, is the size: at 9 by 5 by 1 V2 inches, it
is considerably larger than a Sharp Wiz-
ard, larger even than the Atari Portfolio.
You won't carry this in your pocket, or
even in a gentleman's shoulder bag;
you'll want a briefcase or small back-
pack.

What more can I say? The Nemesis Igo
Dojo works, works well, and is just the
thing for a go fanatic or someone who
wants to become one. It's made in the
U.S., and many are exported to Japan.
And, of course, if you just want a strong
go opponent for your computer, there are
PC and Mac versions of the program it-
self. Recommended.

Scene Generator

This doesn't quite qualify as a gadget,
but there are similarities.

Graphics capabilities on the PC have
pretty well caught up with the Mac and
Amiga, although you'll spend a bit doing
it. Even so, every now and then there's a
program unique to the Amiga. This is
one of them: if there's anything like it for
the Mac or PC, I haven't seen it.

Nature loves fractals, curves of infi-
nite complexity that have the property of
being similar no matter what level of de-
tail you go down to. Case in point: coast-
lines, seen from orbit, are irregular. Get
closer, and they still are. Get down to
resolution in feet, and they still are; and
even down to grains of sand, there are
still these irregularities, similar al-
though not identical to what you saw
from orbit.

Scene Generator uses this property of
nature to generate scenery. Some years
ago, the designers of the game Starf light
used a similar technique to generate the
scenery for the thousands of planetary
areas you could explore, but the scenes
they generated weren't nearly as realistic
as the ones Scene Generator comes up
with; indeed, some of Scene Generator's
fractally generated random scenes are
nearly indistinguishable from scanned-in
photographs taken in the High Sierra,

84 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 69 on Reader Service Card

CHAOS MANOR

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and others would convince you they were
from the moon.

There are six resolutions. The pro-
gram gives you a great deal of control
over what you generate— how much
water, snow, greenery, clouds, and such-
like. I can't think of much practical use
for this program except to generate eye
candy, although you might use it when
building a game; but it's fun to play
about with. If you have an Amiga, this is
likely to be interesting.

Disney Animation

As long as we are talking about the
Amiga, Walt Disney Software presents a
paint and animation program. The Ani-
mation Studio, in which Mickey Mouse
and Donald Duck teach you how to do
animated drawings; for my money, it's
the easiest such program I've seen. I was
about to push the Amiga into another
room, but now I have second thoughts:
this thing might even make me an artist,
and that would take some doing.

I was recently back at Douglas Trum-
bull's Berkshire Studios, where we had a
meeting about Klaus Heiss's Mars Cup,
to be awarded for racing a solar sail vehi-
cle from Earth to Mars; there's some
hope actually to get that started as part of
the 500th anniversary of the first voyage
of Columbus. One of Klaus 's demonstra-
tions was a videotape of some solar sail
models and their deployment; this was
done by some Georgetown University
students using an Amiga and Degas
Paint. It would have been even easier to
do with The Animation Studio.

Every time I think the Amiga is about
finished, someone comes up with new
and unique products for it. As long as
Amiga has friends like Disney's pro-
grammers, you can't count it out. This
program is good— and it's fun.

Multi-Media Birds

CMC Research continues to refine their
DiscPassage CD-ROM retrieval soft-
ware. Now there are help files, and the
video imaging works with just about
every major video card, including those
from Tseng Laboratories, Video Seven,
and Tecmar. The help routines aren't al-
ways as helpful as they think, and there's
a harshness to some of the retrieval inter-
face that wasn't there on their first Sher-
lock Holmes disk; on the other hand, it
does the job, and once you're used to the
interface, it works on a whole raft of CD-
ROM disks.

CMC's lineup includes a number of
medical books and journals, and I'd ad-
vise any physician to look into them: you
may find that what you want is on a CD-

ROM, meaning that it is nicely orga-
nized, with search and retrieval capabili-
ties superior to the best paper indexes.

Their latest CD-ROM is Muhi-Media
Birds of America, which consists of the
complete John James Audubon Birds of
America lithographs. There are also re-
cordings of bird calls and the Audubon
text.

The bird calls, which are pretty nice,
are what justify calling this "multime-
dia." There's no animation, the text it-
self is pretty dry, and, worse, it was all
written a long time ago and could use
some modern commentary.

Example: there are families of red-
tailed hawks in the hills above our house,
and we go up to visit them quite often; so
naturally I looked up red-tailed and hawk
in the search pattern, to find that this
bird is not known as a red-tailed hawk,
but Harlan's buzzard. There's no entry
at all for the peregrine falcon. Now, I'm
no expert, and it may well be that the real
experts call a California red-tailed hawk
"Harlan's buzzard" and have some eso-
teric name for peregrine falcons making
them impossible to find; but Peterson's
Field Guide to Hawks sees it quite differ-
ently, as do all the other bird books we
have.

I had similar problems looking up the
goatsucker: from this CD-ROM, you
may or may not be able to find out that

the whippoorwill and the common night-
hawk are members of the goatsucker
family, but I didn't.

In other words, this is J. J. Audubon's
book and nothing else; for the practical
bird watcher it's no substitute for the Pe-
terson guides, which, alas, have yet to be
put onto a CD-ROM. On the other hand,
the 500 Audubon paintings are magnifi-
cent, they show up beautifully on a VGA
screen, the bird calls are interesting, and
the retrieval software works fine: if the
information is on the disk, DiscPassage
will find it. You don't buy this for the
text, though.

Grolier Again

It is my practice to send the text of my
column to the company or people af-
fected, with a notation that I'll correct
errors of fact, I'll listen to arguments
concerning errors of judgment, and I re-
serve the right to determine which is
which. I did that with the Grolier text last
month; alas, they took a very long time to
respond, so that by the time they did, the
column was set in galley. When an au-
thor rewrites in galley, it is very tough on
the composition and layout crew; and
after some thought, I corrected the things
easily done and let the rest stand.

Herewith, then, not quite a retraction.

First, Grolier is reconsidering their li-
cense policy, in part due to my nagging

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 85

CHAOS MANOR

[EMS-DISCUSSEE

Amazon Binary Clock....

Eugene Amazon

13, Rue de la Madelaine

1204 Geneva, Switzerland

022-21-18-96

Inquiry 1146.

Autodesk Animator.

Autodesk, Inc.
2320 Marinship Way
Sausalito, CA 94965
(800) 525-2763
(415) 332-2344
Inquiry 1147.

.$150

.$395

Genlock Video Board

with 5 12K bytes of RAM and
Video Titler program $895

Willow Peripherals, Inc.

190 Willow Ave.

Bronx, NY 10454

(800) 444-1585

(212) 402-0010

Inquiry 1148.

Grolier Encyclopedia

Americana $399

Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.
Sherman Tpk.
Danbury, CT 06816
(203) 797-3500
Inquiry 1149.

Modula-2 Professional
for DOS and OS/2

Stony Brook Software

187 East Wilbur Rd., Suite 9

Thousand Oaks, CA 91360

(800) 624-7487

(805) 496-5837

Inquiry 1150.

.$295

.$99

..$79
.$695

Multi-Media Birds of America.

CMC Research, Inc.

7150 Southwest Hampton St.,

Suite C 120

Portland, OR 97223

(800) 262-7668

(503) 639-3395

Inquiry 1151.

Nemesis-Go

Nemesis Igo Dojo

Toyogo, Inc.
P.O. Box F, Dept. Y
Kaneohe, HI 96744
(800) 869-6469
(808) 254-1166
Inquiry 1152.

PanaSync C1391 $899

Panasonic Communications &
Systems Co.

Office Automation Group
2 Panasonic Way
Seacaucus, NJ 07094
(800) 742-8086
(201) 348-7000
Inquiry 1153.

Scene Generator ...

Natural Graphics
P.O. Box 1963
Rocklin, CA 95677
(916) 624-1436
Inquiry 1154.

. $49.95

Surge Eliminators $149 and $199

Zero Surge, Inc.
103 Claremont Rd.
Bernardsville, NJ 07924
(201) 766-4220
Inquiry 1155.

The Animation Studio $179.95

Walt Disney Software
500 South Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521
(818) 567-5340
Inquiry 1156.

TVGA Video Board $799

Genlock Overlay Module $399

USVideo

62 Southfield Ave.
One Stamford Landing
Stamford, CT 06902
(203) 964-9000
Inquiry 1157.

Ultra-14 $899

Princeton Graphic Systems

1 100 Northmeadow Pkwy., Suite 150

P.O. Box 100040

Roswell, GA 30076

(800) 221-1490

(404) 664-1010

Inquiry 1158.

Video Titler EGA and VGA $495

Entropy Engineering

123 17 Village Square Terrace,

Suite 202

Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 770-6886
Inquiry 1159.

them. They were concerned that if they
routinely released the "network version"
of their CD-ROM retrieval software,
they would have dozens of people using
one CD-ROM. I asked how many estab-
lishments there are in the U.S. where
that's likely. Or even possible. Could
there be more than 20?

And of course there are not, meaning
that they're inconveniencing thousands
of users in order to prevent the possibility
(hardly a certainty) of being ripped off
by a couple of dozen customers at most.
That's assuming that Grolier is being
ripped off if several people on a network
access a single CD-ROM in rapid succes-
sion. They can't, after all, access it si-
multaneously, because the laser can't be
in more than one place at once— and in
any event, how is it worse than when sev-

eral people use different volumes of the
printed encyclopedia?

So: as I said, Grolier is reconsidering
that policy. At the moment, though, what
I said is true: if you have a network card
in your machine, even if it is not enabled,
you'll have to get the network version of
the Grolier retrieval software. They say
they are willing to send the network ver-
sion free to anyone willing to sign a state-
ment that it won't be used by more than
one person at a time.

Second, if you have multiple CD-ROM
drives, you must invoke the Grolier re-
trieval software as EE -dO or EE -dl, de-
pending on which one of your drives you
have the CD-ROM in. Don't bother look-
ing for that in the manual: it's not there.
There are apparently further undocu-
mented features in the software. In addi-

tion, if you use the Install program on the
distribution floppy disk, it does not copy
over all the files, and thus you will be un-
able to reconfigure unless you have the
original disk; however, you can man-
ually do a COPY *.*, which will bring
over all the files; the disk isn't really
copy-protected. That, too, is not in the
manual.

Someone in the Grolier hierarchy de-
cided that explaining all this stuff would
confuse the user. I am told that this pol-
icy has now been abandoned and there
will be a new appendix to the manual ex-
plaining the switches and other undocu-
mented features, to which I can only say,
hurrah.

I am becoming increasingly fond of
the Grolier Encyclopedia Americana
itself, and once you get used to it, the

86 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

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Worldwide: Holland: Lemax BV 02968-94210; France: Conceptel (1) 45669700: Sweden: AkademiData 018-240035: Spain: ADDLiNK. SRL: ph: 34-3-459-0722

CSS. CSS 3. CSS-GRAPHICS. Megafile Manager. Quick CSS, STATISTICA. StatSoft. dBase IV, Excel. Lotus. MacDraw, Macintosti. Postscript are tradematvs of tfieir respective companies. SPSS rs a registered tfadeinart< of SPSS. Inc.

CHAOS MANOR

retrieval software is easy both to remem-
ber and to use. I'm pleased to see that the
company is reevaluating its licensing pol-
icies to make life easier for their custom-
ers. I wish more companies would.

Winding Down

Again, my desk is piled high with stuff I
won't get to. The Sola Publishing Group
(Via Nerino, 8-20123 Milan, Italy) sent
me a CD-ROM labeled "An unabashed
history of photographic erotica" that
isn't precisely what the title says: most of
the pictures would be better described as
"raunchy" than erotic. About half the
text is in Italian.

There are two Mannesmann Tally
printers. One is their MT 906 laser
printer, which uses the Microsoft/Bauer
interpreter and Bitstream fonts to print
PostScript files. It also emulates the
Hewlett-Packard LaserJet II and comes
with the Z print cartridge, niy favorite
for my old LaserJet I, the Printer That
Will Not Die. We are in the middle of tor-
ture-testing the MT 906 with some com-
plex PostScript files that I got from Dave
Moore and Trevor Marshall; if it prints
those files properly, it should print any-

thing. It's sure fast.

I also have the MT 81, a really neat
dot-matrix printer that's small enough to
become the "throw it in the Bronco"
printer for field use. It came in a sturdy
box that I have reinforced and practically
waterproofed with duct tape.

The bribe of the month is a wonderful
Victorian inkwell, from Underware, in
celebration of the company being bought
out. The game of the month is still Rail-
road Tycoon, although the Strategic
Studies Group does have some nifty new
scenarios for their World War II simula-
tion system— and the first decent Austro-
Prussian war game I know of. The latter
is a scenario for their Decisive Battles of
the Civil War.

The books of the month are Jacques
Barzun's The Culture We Deserve (Wes-
leyan University Press, 1989), typical
Barzun, delicious and informative; and
In Pursuit of Truth: Essays on the Philos-
ophy of Karl Popper on the Occasion of
His 80th Birthday, edited by Paul Levin-
son (Humanities Press, 1982). I became
a convert to Karl Popper's theory of "fal-
sification" as the only route to truth
many years ago, and I'm ashamed of hav-

ing missed this book on its publication. It
contains a good introduction to and ap-
preciation of Karl Popper's work, al-
though anyone seriously interested in the
philosophy of science would do well to
read Sir Karl Popper himself: his Open
Society and Its Enemies (Princeton Uni-
versity Press, 1966) is thoroughly read-
able, and his other works aren't really
obscure.

I have the production copy of DR DOS
5.0, and next week I am going to a semi-
nar on the new Desqview; next month I'll
cover those, and, with luck, much, much
more. ■

Jerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in psy-
chology and is a science fiction writer
who also earns a comfortable living writ-
ing about computers present and future.
Jerry welcomes readers' comments and
opinions. Send a self-addressed, stamped
envelope to Jerry Pournelle, do BYTE,
One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough,
NH 03458. Please put your address on
the letter as well as on the envelope. Due
to the high volume of letters, Jerry cannot
guarantee a personal reply. You can also
contact him on BIX as "jerryp. "

Assembly Language

TOOLBOX

PROGRAMMERS

Powerful Programming Tools
for PC Applications

Assembly Language Toolbox £99 a team led by one of the UK's leading PC authorities, Christy Gemmell,

Incorporate sophisticated and efficient assembly language functions and author of the Waite Groups 'QuickBASIC Bible' which is published by

procedures into your own programs quickly and easily! The Assembly- Microsoft Press, the Professional Edition is a unique programming tool

Language Toolkit includes over 100 routines designed to speed up which gives you maximum control over your hardware and software,

program development for both professional and hobbyist programmers Xoolbox - Utility Pack £49

alike. The toolbox allows the use of menus and windowswith full mouse complement the toolbox, the utility pack comprises

support, popup context-sensitive help, full printer support as well as ^^^^^ ^Womng complex screen designs to be built easily, mouse

allowing access to the innermost secrets of the PC. The Assembly- pointers to be created and incorporated into your own programs, custom
Language Toolbox comes complete with sample programs and a

comprehensive reference manual .

Toolbox - Professional Edition £299

Coming complete with all the features of the Assembly Language Tool-
box , the Professional Edition includes fully documented source code of
all the functions and procedures that make up the toolbox. Written by

printer support and a help screen generator.
Toolbox - On Line Documentation £39
Comprises on-line documentation for the toolbox and its utilities and is
supplied in forms suitable for the Norton Guide engine, the Microsoft
Advisor and Microsoft Programmers Workbench.
Toolbox for Novell - Call for further Information

All Packages are available forthe Microsoft BASIC 6.0 / QuickBASIC 4.x , Microsoft BASIC 7.1/ QBX and Microsoft C 6.0. All text modes of the Hercules, CGA, EGA, VGA and MCGA
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ArdensoftWare 115-117 Barkby Road

Leicester, LE4 7LG. England "~ ~~

Tel: 010 1 44 (533) 460000 Fax: 010 1 44 (533) 740249 ,^11^

88 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 32 on Reader Service Card

EXPERTADVICE

DOWN TO BUSINESS ■ Wayne Rash Jr.

The Growth
OF Groupware

Don't buy more—
or less— groupware
functionality than
you need

As LANs become more popular
in business, the demand that
they do something to support
groups of people who work to-
gether becomes more important. The
reason for this requirement is clear. In
most organizations, people work in
groups assigned to accomplish a task.
These may be called project teams or de-
partments, but either way, they are
groups of people who work together.

Stand-alone software packages en-
hance a group's work only to the extent
that they make an individual's work
more productive. So, group productivity
software, or groupware, was developed.

Last year I discussed two early group-
ware packages, WordPerfect Office and
Higgins (see "Groping for Groupware,"
April 1989 BYTE). Since that time,
groupware has become much more popu-
lar, there is a lot more of it, and there is a
lot of variety in what it does to help a
group be more productive.

The wider selection of groupware
functions means that you have to look at
what your organization needs in group
productivity software before the com-
pany buys it. This variety is important,
because, unlike with stand-alone appli-
cations, everyone must use groupware,
so it must support everyone's needs.

On the other hand, ihere are reasons
why vendors should not include unneces-
sary functions in a groupware package.
For exa^r>le, extra functions mean add-
ed complexity and more difficulty in
learning how to use the package. Also
because of this sophistication, it takes
more to motivate people to use group-
ware once they have it available.

What Functions Do You Need?

Every groupware package includes E-
mail, and nearly all of them include elec-
tronic appointment books and group
scheduling. Beyond these features, the
field is wide open. You will find pack-
ages that include everything from word
processors and databases to calculators.

The key to determining which func-
tions you really need is to look at how
your workgroups work. Is communica-
tions their primary need? Do they have to
schedule a lot of meetings? Are they
working on creating reports and docu-
ments that have to get passed around a
lot? Are group members confident com-
puter users, or do they need to work from
some kind of menu shell? Is the network
limited to IBM PCs and clones, or are
there Macs and VAXes in the mix? Be-
fore you start looking at groupware, you
need to have answers to these questions,
and you need to know a lot about how
your LAN is used and how it's set up.

What's Available?

Of course, before you know whether or
not you need any software, you should
know what features and functions it of-
fers. For example, you need to know
that, with some packages, it is possible
to schedule resources such as meeting
rooms and slide projectors, along with
the people who need to use them. You
also might find that your organization is
paying for features that it doesn't need
and won't use, and that make the rest of
the package harder to use.

As I mentioned, all these packages let
you send E-mail messages across the net-
work to other users. To use E-mail or be
notified of new messages, users must log
onto the file server containing the group-
ware package.

Likewise, most groupware packages
contain some form of appointment calen-
dar that can interface with a group sched-
uling package. You can keep your ap-
pointments on the computer, and other

ILLUSTRATION: G. BRIAN KARAS © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 89

Circle 108 on Reader Service Card

Good Labor ain't
cheap!

DOWN TO BUSINESS

Optical Character Recognition

Software for your scanner that is
fast,accurate and easy to use.
Why type when you can just scan?

SX-OCR

SX-OCR Reads Text

• SX-OCR will automatically "re-type"
your documents, producing text files that
work with your word processor

• SX-OCR handles English and foreign
text, footnotes and headlines, typeset and
typewritten material

• SX-OCR will automate the typingprocess
- from simple business letters to il-
lustrated product catalogs

SX-OCR Can Learn

• SX-OCR can be taught to read nearty
everything through its trainable recogni-
tion process

• In addition, SX-OCR automatically
avoids dirt, boxes, lines, logos and
graphics while converting text images to
ASCII files

SX-OCR Manages Graphics

• SX-OCR uniquely separates graphics
from text in one scan... and remembers
both

• SX-OCR can import and export popular
image formats such as PCX and TIFF

Compatability

• PC-AT with 640K RAM and 2mb availa-
ble on hard disk - EMS memory can be
used in place of the hard disk space to
speed up the OCR process

• SX-OCR works directly with the follow-
ing scanners: Cannon, HP, Microtek,
Panasonic, Ricoh, Umax, Chinon, Zsoft,
Princeton, Abaton, AST, Mitsubishi and
others; also will work with any scanner
that will make a .PCX file ora bilevel .TIF
file

The heart of OCR is the quaiity of
the software engine, the algorithm
that converts the graphic image
into tie actuai text character. SX-
OCR is better and faster than any
OCR package on the marl<et today

Suggested Retail Price $395.°°

Call for special, discount prices on
SX-OCR and handheld, sheetfeed and
flatbed scanners:

1-800-759-4001
Desktop Technology Corporation

986 nnangrove, suite b
Sunnyvale, ca 94086
(408) 73&4001
fax 408 -739-3109,

MEMS

DISCUSSED

Network ctcneauier .

(zj to izj users)

(eight to 50 users)

cc:Mail, Inc.

L.anQingS JJr., DUllQing 1

(eight to 50 users)

jviouiiiain view, y^\Mj

3-1- Mail Link

$695-$1195

(eight to 50 users)

inquiry mi.

PowerCore, Inc.

P.O. Box 756

INTO $1499-$3899

Manteno, IL 60950

(five to 25 users)

(815) 468-3737

Benchmark Associates, Inc.

Inquiry 1223.

7400 West Detroit St.

Chandler, AZ 85226

Office Works LAN .

..$195-$1995

(602)961-7519

(one to unlimited users)

Inquiry 1222.

Data Access Corp.

14000 Southwest 1 19th Ave.

Miami, FL 33186

(305) 238-0012

Inquiry 1224.

people can use the network to see if
you're available for a meeting and, if so,
include you in it. Each of the packages
handles calendars and scheduling a bit
differently. But most give you a place to
insert your appointments, usually in 15-
minute blocks. You can also get a picture
of how your calendar looks for the day,
week, and month. Some will show six-
and nine-month blocks of time.

If you want more than scheduling and
mail features, you'll need to check out
groupware packages with more sophisti-
cated capabilities. Office Works LAN
from Data Access, for example, includes
the ability to send E-mail to other sys-
tems using telex and fax. Its mail system
also supports specialized phone mes-
sages — electronic versions of the little
pink messages that build up on your
desk— and it can dial the phone for you
while you're looking at the message.

Office Works includes the ability to
track people and documents as well as
mail. You can store names and addresses
and use the information to print every-
thing from mailing labels to Rolodex
cards. This package also contains a con-
trol function that lets you track the loca-
tion and contents of a document. If the
document isn't in electronic form, the
process is very difficult. If it is, the pro-
cess is easy. Office Works LAN will
start up the word processor that created
the document and then load in the docu-
ment for you to read.

You Want More?

Some managers want a complete group-
ware solution so that everyone will be
using the same software for everything
they do. To meet this requirement, they

must have either a standard suite of net-
work applications along with their group-
ware, or a groupware package that sup-
ports just about all the features that they
are likely to want. There are packages
that provide this type of functionality.

One such package is INTO (Intuitive
Network Total Office) from Benchmark
Associates. It attempts to support all the
common office functions. In addition to
E-mail and scheduling, you also get a
phone book, a data manager, phone mes-
saging, and a note taker (a kind of text
editor with a search capability). And
there's more.

At the point where other packages run
out of features, INTO begins. Along with
all the typical groupware capabilities,
INTO includes a full-featured word pro-
cessor, a spreadsheet, business graphics,
and a calculator. Overall, you may find
that this combination of features saves
you money and helps to integrate your
groupware and applications more tightly.

Do-It- Yourself Groupware

While the massive integration of large
groupware packages might fit the needs
of some organizations, many others find
that their requirements don't extend be-
yond E-mail and time management.
Either their corporate practices don't
lend themselves to the rigid format de-
manded by more structured systems, or
the projects involved are too specialized
for most generalized applications. What
doesn't change is people's neetTto com-
municate, either by mail or in meetings.
A groupware package that fills this need
is all that many organizations require.

If you have modest needs, it makes
sense to purchase in a modest fashion.

90 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Zenith Data Systems Presents

Everything Yon Love About The PC

. . . Plus The Benefits Of Graphical
Computing.

ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS INNOVATES AGAIN

Zenith Data Systems was the
first to offer Microsoft* Windows™
version 3.0 and Asymetrix® ToolBook'
pre-installed on every hard drive
386-based desktop PC. And that's
just part of The Seamless Solution
we've CTeated for today's graphical
computing environment.

With Microsoft Windows version
3.0 and the fingertip simplicity of the
Microsoft Mouse, your Zenith Data
Systems PC lets you glide graphically,
seamlessly between applications.
While Asymetrix ToolBook lets you
design your own applications under
Windows version 3.0. So your produc-
tivity will soar. With the greatest
of ease.

A $643 valuef Microsoft
Windows version 3.0, Asymetrix
ToolBook and the Microsoft Mouse
are all yours with every Intel386r
386 EISA or 386SX desktop PC.

Add our award-winning 14"
VGA Flat Technology Monitor, and
you've got The Seamless Solution.
So your Windows version 3.0 and
ToolBook applications will come to
life with breakthrough clarity.

Zenith Data Systems. Trans-
forming the PC into a powerful
graphic environment. For more
information and the name of
your nearest Zenith Data Systems
Medallion Reseller, call:

1-800-523-9393

The Zenith Data Systems Sphere

The universal symbol of simplicity, the sphere
perfectly represen ts The Seamless Solution '" from
Zenith Data Systems.

ZENITH

data systems

Groupe Bull

Microsoft and Windows version 3.0 are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Asymetrix and ToolBook are registered trademarks of Asymetrix Corporation. Intel386 is a trademark of Intel Corporation.
*Based on suggested retail price if purchased separately. © 1990 Zenith Data Systems Corporation

Circle 376 on Reader Service Card

DOWN TO BUSINESS

Likewise, if your needs for word pro-
cessing are already met by another appli-
cation, such as the LAN version of Word-
Perfect or WordStar, why pay for word
processing in a groupware package? In
fact, why buy a package at all? Why not
assemble the parts you need yourself?

A modular approach to groupware is
still in its infancy, but the initial parts
exist now. Many organizations are find-
ing that with a combination of the highly
regarded cc:Mail and Network Schedul-
er, you can take advantage of the best of
two excellent products. The fact that Net-
work Scheduler will integrate itself with
cc:Mail makes the system even more at-
tractive.

Both of these packages were designed
to perform a single specific task. For that
reason, cc:Mail is very well designed,
runs on a variety of platforms, including
the Mac and the VAX, and is very rich in
functionality. Likewise, Network Sched-
uler is designed simply to schedule time
and does not go overboard providing
needless frills like calculators and ad-
dress lists. You get a complete scheduling
package that's flexible and easy to use.

With a do-it-yourself approach, you

don't have to buy anything until you need
it. You can get started with E-mail by
buying cc:Mail and then add Network
Scheduler later as you need it. Both pack-
ages are inexpensive ($695 for a 25-user
LAN), making them cost-effective as
well as performance favorites. While
you may not think price is your highest
priority, consider how much you'd have
to pay for a really large LAN and the fee
many vendors charge for each user.

Groping for Groupware

As you can see, if you want to use group-
ware, you have a lot of options. They
range from a solution you can assemble
yourself to one that attempts to combine
all the software your workgroup is ever
likely to need.

Each of the packages will do what it's
supposed to do, and each works on most
popular LANs. The critical factor when
choosing any groupware package is the
requirements that you need to meet. Buy-
ing groupware that greatly exceeds your
needs is probably a waste of money. Buy-
ing groupware that doesn't meet your
needs is wasteful and shortsighted.

How do you find out what your re-

quirements for groupware really are?
You talk to the group of people whose
productivity you're trying to enhance.
You analyze what they actually need to
accomplish by asking them what they do
now and what they would do if it were
possible. Then you turn those needs into
documented requirements and match the
requirements against the functions that
each groupware package supports. By
this process, you can obtain software that
actually increases your productivity.

Next month, more on this subject as I
look at how the heavy hitters can help
your group be more productive. ■

Wayne Rash Jr. is a contributing editor
for BYTE and technical director of the
Network Integration Group of American
Management Systems, Inc. (Arlington,
VA). He consults with the federal govern-
ment on microcomputers and communi-
cations. You can contact him on BIX as
"waynerash, " or in the to. wayne con-
ference.

Your questions and comments are wel-
come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One
Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH
03458.

ABC Flowcharter for Windows

"Simply the easiest way to document procedures"

ABC Flowcharter™ makes drawing and editing
flowcharts easier than ever. It's loaded with
features that help you make and edit charts in
a fraction of the time needed with other
flowcharting or drawing programs.

ABC Flowcharter's advanced link feature lets
you break complicated procedures into smaller,
more manageable steps. Just click on a shape to
display a sub-chart or procedure. It's that easy.

Ask your dealer for a demonstration or call
1-800-227-0847 for more information. See for
yourself why ABC Flowcharter is quickly
becoming the standard flowcharting tool for
the Fortune 1000. Retail price S295.

Roykore"

2215 Filbert St.

San Francisco, CA 94123

415-563-9175

92 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 304 on Reader Service Card

There Are Many^ys
toTake G)ntroL

Only one puts
you in control
of your personal
computer.

Control Room:" The ultimate utility from Ashton-Tate.

Imagine having a built-in computer
consultant that can analyze your system's capabilities.
Configure it for optimal comfort and performance.
Automate dozens of chores. Check your system daily
for viruses. Perform hardware and software inven-
tories of entire networks. And make your internal
support easier.

Control Room does all this and more in
seconds. And in plain English.

You can customize your keyboard to
work the way you want it to work. Save time with an
outstanding disk cache. Change system files in a flash.
Undelete files and directories without access to tools
that can be damaging when used by novices. Have
the answers you need to simplify technical support
calls. And get instant response to hundreds of
questions. In fact, Control Room replaces up to 25

Control Room

different
utilities.
Even if you
don't yet
own a com-
puter, just
pop it into
any IBM®
or 100%-
compatible - 111.11-.U1.1.. .11 1 1 mil ; I I

for an in-depth summary that helps you choose the
system that's right for you.

For more information on the ultimate soft-
ware utility- one that puts control of your computer
at your fingertips-call 1-800-437-4329, ext. 3713.

.4 AshtonTate'

Copyright © 1990 by Ashton-Tate Corporation. All rights reserved. Ashton-Tate and the Ashton-Tate logo are registered trademarks and Control Room is a trademark of Ashton-Tate Corporation.

Circle 36 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 37)

1990 Sun Microsystems, Inc. ®Sun Microsystems and the Sun logo are registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. OPEX LOOK is a trademark of AlkT. AU other products or sen ices

R INTERFACE
PLAyiNG AT A
EAR YOU.

The OPEN LOOK " user interface.
It's a real hit with independent software
vendors, in-house developers and end
users. In fact, over 300 applications are
in development today. By people like
Lotus^ INFORMIX,* Island Graphics^
Interleaf J and Frame! And it's the most
popular front end to UNIX! For a
number of reasons.

First of aU, it makes UNIX easy to use.
Because there are no complicated UNIX
commands. It also looks better than any
other interface. From its icons to its 3D
elements. And makes users more effi-
cient. For example, our drag and drop
feature gives them a simple, intuitive
way to move files around the desktop.
Our push-pin icon makes it even easier
to use. And OPEN LOOK gives users
the same interface across multiple plat-
forms, so they learn it once. And enjoy
access to a huge range of network
resources.

As a developer, you'll see it's also the
easiest to work with. Because it's part of
OpenWindows™ a complete develop-
ment environment. With the tools you
need to create applications faster than

ever And ready-made features. Like our
DeskSet " graphical productivity tools,
that you can give users right away.

Of course, the business reasons to
choose OPEN LOOK are just as strong.
OPEN LOOK is the standard interface
of ATi&T's UNIX System V.4, so it's
included at no charge. And it wiU run on
over 20 platforms, including DECJ HP,®
and IBM? Since it's portable across
multiple platforms, you only write your
application once. Which saves thou-
sands of man-hours. Finally, with OPEN
LOOK, you have the full support of
a company that leads the workstation
industry in worldwide shipments?

We've put together a videotape that
shows you exactly what OPEN LOOK is
all about. Just call us at 1-800-624-8999
(ext. 2068), and we'U send you a
free copy.

Then find a nice comfortable seat
close to your screen. Because the closer
you look, the better we get.

#sun

Xr microsystems

mentioned are identified by the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or organizations. *Source, International Data Corporation, 1990. 36.3% market share.

Circle 329 on Reader Service Card

3780 RJE

Emulatio

fon

^^NIX SystemV/386
aS^CENK 286/386

OMTating Systems

gpvis-Dos

WyEoncurrent DOS
^NI
^>
AIX
W,386/ix
^HP-UX
^^Sequent Dynex
^NCR UNIX
^VMS
H Macintosh

Applications

2 EDI

2!;^Point-of-Sale

[^'.Mainframe RJE

HMedical Claims Filing

W Check Clearing
y-and Deposits

H Electronic Funds
^'Transfer

I^Credit Card Verification

U.S. Customs Automated
yBroker Interface

H Electronic Tax Filing

...and More!

CLEO's 3780P1US' is the
preferred 3780/2780 bisynciiro-
nous communications solution
for applications requiring fast,
efficient data transfer. It's been
proven in over 50,000 worldwide
installations.

With 3780P1US, you get
full IBM 3780/2780 RJE emula-
tion for IBM PCs, PS/2S, and

Scripting

Language

compatibles. It also works with
RS/6000, DECVAX, HP9000,
NCR Tower, Prime, Pyramid,
Sequent, Altos, and Apple Mac-
intosh systems.

Features include forms con-
trol, auto dial/auto answer, and
a communications line monitor.
Our powerful Scripting
Command Language and
Application Program
Interface make
unatttended
operation easy.

We offer
3780P1US on

high-speed modem boards, high-
performance co-processor boards,
and economical synchronous inter-
face boards. Internal modems
supported include 201/212, 208,
208/2400, V22 bis, V32, and others.
External modem auto-dialing capa-
bilities include UDS BSC, SADL,
AT Command Set, and V25 bis.
We also offer 3780Plus
through our intelligent
SYNCcable, which
allows synchronous
communications
activity through
asynchronous
ports.

Application Progra

, . Interface

To learn more, call us today
at 1-800-233-2536. Or write
to us at 3796 Plaza Drive,
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108.
FAX; 313/662-1965

CLEO^

CLEO Communications

A Division of Interface Systems, Inc.

AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE!

In Europe, call Sintec Peripherals Ltd. in Slough, England, at 0753-811888 (FAX: 0753-811666).

EXPERT ADVICE

NETWORKS ■ Mark L. Van Name and Bill Catchings

Most people can't
afford to wait for
tomorrow's solutions

Networks are practically un-
manageable, and the situation
is only getting worse. Unless
vendors rally around a single
network management standard, we'll all
pay with more network downtime and
more network problems in general.

The problem isn't that network man-
agement products don't exist. Quite the
opposite is true; such products abound.
The problem is that no single product ad-
dresses all the problems facing the man-
agers of today's large, heterogeneous
networks. Users need a single product
with which to manage an entire network;
what they have are different management
products for every component.

It doesn't have to be that way. We re-
cently got a tantalizing glimpse of what
the future of network management could
be. An administrator at a large institution
was managing a network of over a thou-
sand devices from a single Sun worksta-
tion. On the Sun's screen was a map of
the network— little white boxes linked by
glowing green lines. Each of the boxes
represented a device, such as a worksta-
tion, bridge, router, or gateway. The
lines indicated connections between the
devices. Some of the connections were
network media, such as Ethernet or
fiber-optic cables, while others were Tl
and microwave transmissions. When a
device or connection encountered a prob-
lem, its on-screen counterpart turned
yellow; when the device went down, its
box or line glowed red.

You could even zoom in for a closer
look. We double-clicked the mouse on a
bridge, for example, and up popped sta-
tistics on the number of packets that
bridge had received and transmitted, the

HARD Choices
FOR Network
Managers

number of errors, and so on.

We instantly knew what else the pro-
gram could do. Clicking on a server's
box would produce statistics on its file
and printer usage. Clicking on an Ether-
net cable would give us a closer look at
the PCs hooked to that cable. Everything
was in one place, accessible from this one
program.

We were wrong. The program could
not do what we wanted because the de-
vices on the network didn't all support
the same network management standard.

Back to the Future

Many of those devices, however, did sup-
port the Simple Network Management
Protocol, and that support made possible
the features we saw. The SNMP specifi-
cation comes from the Internet Engineer-
ing Task Force, the folks who brought us
TCP/IP, the Unix networking standard.
At its core, SNMP just defines how a net-
work manager can communicate with

network agents. The manager is a pro-
gram that can accept, manipulate, and,
generally, display information about
the state of the network— such as the pro-
gram we saw running on the Sun work-
station. An agent is a device on the net-
work, and theoretically it can be any-
thing from a workstation to a bridge,
router, gateway, or server. The only re-
quirement an agent must meet is that it
must be able to run some SNMP soft-
ware; thus, it needs its own processor
and memory.

SNMP is only a protocol, a specifica-
tion for how the manager and the agents
can communicate. It does not specify the
contents of all possible exchanges— just
how to make those exchanges. Even the
way in which the manager and the agents
communicate is fairly simple. The man-
ager and the agents do not need to stay in
touch constantly; instead, the manager
merely "yells" to the agents periodical-
ly. Nor do the agents have to remember

ILLUSTRATION: TIM CLARK © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 97

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these conversations; only the manager
needs such records, and then only as a
management tool.

SNMP is well on its way to becoming a
standard. More than 100 vendors have
signed up for it so far, with more coming
all the time. Some of the vendors are
even major workstation players, such as
IBM and Sun. Most, however, are mak-
ers of network connection devices— the
vendors behind the bridges, routers, and
gateways that worked so well with the
software we saw.

Roadblocks

With all this momentum behind it, you
might think that SNMP was unstoppable,
maybe even on its way to fulfilling our
earlier visions. But that's not the case.

For one thing, SNMP doesn't cover
enough ground to meet all our needs.
The base specification details only how
the manager and the agents communi-
cate. To make our universal-manage-
ment dream come true, we also need
standards for what every possible kind of
agent — including workstations and serv-
ers — can say to the manager. Some such
SNMP-based standards exist, but mostly
for bridges, routers, and gateways—
hence the wider adoption of SNMP by
vendors of those products than by any
other types of vendors. Server vendors,
for example, have largely ignored
SNMP, so SNMP console products typi-
cally offer no information about server
activity. SNMP also has so far been asso-
ciated primarily with Ethernet, although
work is ongoing to bring it to Token
Ring, Fiber Distributed Data Interface,
and other types of network connections.

Back to the Future, Part II

The newest and perhaps greatest obstacle
to SNMP, however, is a second— and, in
many ways, better— proposed network
management standard: Common Man-
agement Information Protocol.

CMIP comes from the International
Standards Organization (ISO), the group
behind both the Open Systems Intercon-
nection model and the networking soft-
ware of the same name. CMIP defines
standard types of communication for
practically every kind of information you
might want about a network — physical
faults, security breaches, file opera-
tions, configuration data, performance,
accounting, and on and on. It's obviously
a much larger and more comprehensive
standard than SNMP. A companion
specification, the Common Management
Information Service standard, defines a
large set of functions that a manager
must provide. You don't have to look long

« — Circle 160 on Reader Service Card

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Circle 174 on Reader Service Card

Rack & Desk
PC/AT Chassis

Integrand's new Chassis/System is not
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Integrand offers high quality, advanced
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NETWORKS

Rack & Desk Models

Accepts PC, XT, AT Motherboards

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Doesn 't Look Like IBM

Rugged, Modular Construction
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We accept Bank Americard/VISA and MasterCard

IBM. PC, XT, AT trademarks of International Business Machines
Drives and computer boards not included.

at the CMIP and CMIS specs to believe
that they cover the vast majority— if not
all— of the network management options
that you're likely to want.

Of course, you pay for all this size.
For one thing, CMIP, unlike SNMP, re-
quires a permanent connection between
the manager and each agent. Worse, to
work fully with a CMIS manager, each
agent needs to implement every layer of
the CMIP spec, so each agent needs a lot

s

^NMP
is well on its way to
becoming a standard.

More than 100
vendors have signed up
for it so far.

of memory to run the CMIP software.
CMIP and CMIS are new enough that we
have no hard data on the amount of mem-
ory that a full commercial implementa-
tion would require, but some estimates
run as high as 1 megabyte, with the most
optimistic projections in the hundreds of
kilobytes. This memory requirement is a
problem for network devices like bridges
and routers, and it's not likely to sit too
well with most MS-DOS PC users.

IBM and 3Com have teamed up to pro-
pose a solution to this memory problem:
the Heterogeneous LAN Management
standard. A subset of CMIP, HLM in-
cludes only the lower few layers of the
larger standard. HLM can work with
both Token Ring and Ethernet networks
and should cost only 20K bytes to 30K
bytes per PC, so it has the potential to
bring network management options right
to your desktop. Both IBM and 3Com
plan to include HLM in their PC net-
working software, and they're encourag-
ing other vendors to do so as well. HLM
does not, however, include any monitor-
ing software or specifications, just an
application programming interface on
which vendors can build their own man-
agement monitors— as both IBM and
3Com plan to do.

Picking a Future

Aside from its memory requirement,
CMIP sounds great. HLM isn't as good.

but at least it fits on a PC. At first glance,
the two seem to offer a great one-two
punch: Do HLM now, and then do CMIP
as PC operating environments, such as
Windows that can handle large software
products become more commonly avail-
able. Together, CMIP and HLM seem
like the death of SNMP.

The thing is, CMIP is the future, and
there are network management problems
today that can't wait for it to reach the
market. The CMIP ISO standards are
only in draft form, awaiting ratification.
IBM and 3Com say that HLM won't be
ready until sometime in 1991. When
both are done, users will still face a long
wait while all the networking vendors
implement these standards and bring
their products to market.

Meanwhile, SNMP is out in the real
world doing useful work today. That's
the bottom line. Network management
problems are too important to wait, so
everyone should adopt SNMP as quickly
as possible. Every network vendor, in-
cluding the LAN server companies-
Novell, Microsoft, and the rest— should
embrace this standard. Every server,
workstation, and other network device
should be able to talk SNMP.

Does this mean we're giving thumbs
down to CMIP? No. In fact, we also
think that every network vendor should
jump on the CMIP bandwagon as soon as
possible, so that in four or five years
CMIP products will be everywhere.

"But wait," we hear the budget-con-
scious folks crying, "does this mean that
we'll end up using SNMP for a few years
and then moving to CMIP? Does it mean
we'll end up paying twice for many net-
work management components? Does it
mean we're opting for a relatively short-
term, imperfect solution, while an al-
most ideal one is only years away?"

Yes, yes, and yes.

Those questions are good ones, but
they beg the most important question of
all: Do you really have any other choice?
Our answer is no; network management
is too vital to today's businesses to wait
for a standard that's years away. That's
not an ideal answer, admittedly, but
right now it's the best one we've got. ■

Mark L. Van Name and Bill Catchings are
BYTE contributing editors. Both are also
independent computer consultants and
freelance writers based in Raleigh, North
Carolina. You can reach them on BIX as
"mvanname " and "wbc3, " respectively.

Your questions and comments are wel-
come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One
Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH
03458.

100 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Our Printer Sharing Unit
Does Networking!

An Integrated Solution

Take our Master Switch , a sophisticated
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Versatile

Or you can use the Master Switch to
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access to the commands and menus.
Other Products

We have a full line of connectivity solutions.
If you just want printer sharing, we've got

it. We also have automatic switches, code-
activated switches, buffers, converters,
cables, protocol converters, multiplexers,
line drivers, and other products.

Commitment to Excellence

At Rose Electronics, we're not satisfied
until you're satisfied. That's why we have
thousands of customers around the world
including large, medium, and small
businesses, factories, stores, educational
institutions, and Federal, state, and local
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and a thirty-day money-back guarantee.

Call now for literature or
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(800) 333-9343

P.O. Box 742571 • Houston, Texas 77274 • Tel (713) 933-7673 • FAX (713) 933-0044 • Telex 4948886

Circk 303 on Reader Service Card

Can you stomach spending an extra $10,000 for a PC
network or UNIX' workgroup server with dubious service?

We can't. Workgroups are too critical to leave in the hands
of amateurs.

So Dell has gone overboard in servicing
servers. In fact, we just won a PC Week Poll
for Corporate Satisfaction for ser\'ers, where our
reliability and service were rated far above our
competitors.

Which brings us back to our question:
Would you spend an extra $10,000 for iffy
service?

We think its a no-brainer.
We have ttvo netv 486 " EISA setters. Dell
gives you a
choice of the 25
MH:Deir"425TE

UNBELIEVABLE
PRICES.

TO ORDER. CALL

800'444'1470

HOURS: 6 AM-9 PM CT M-F S .«.M.4 PM CT ON SAT.

FOR NETWORKING/UNIX INFO.

800-678-UNIX

IN CANADA. CALL SOD-3S7-5752

and the 33 MHz
Dell433TE.

The 25 MHz Dell System* 425TE has up to
64 MB of RAM capacity, 11 storage bays, and a
whisper-quiet 300 watt power supply. We've also
built in features such as password protection, a
sofn\-are controlled reset switch, and an efficient
cooling system to protect component life.

What's more, both the 433TE and the 425TE have the
Dell designed Smart Vu" diagnostic display built in. This
ingenious innovation helps identify problems even if the
monitor goes down.

For even more performance, the 33 MHz Dell System
433TE is everything our 425TE is, with 32% more speed. The
Dell exclusive memory design with a 128 KB external cache
gives it maximum throughput.

ystem 433TE

$9,599 1

Del! System 425TE|
Lease:$359ApQ?*|

THE NEW DELL SYSTEM 433TE 33 MHi EIS.^ i486'" AND
THE NEW DELL SYSTEM 425TE 25 MH: EISA i486.

• Intel' 80466 micrDprocessor running ar 33 MH:
t4337X) or 25 MH: (425Tt) wth S KB incerml cache.

• 12S KB esiemal cache (433TE).

• Standard 4 MB of RAM,' expandable to 64 MB
(eight internal SIMM sockets, each accepting a 1 MB.
2 MB. 4 MB. or 8 MB SIMM, installable in matched
pairs).

• Socket for WEITEK 4167 math copiocessor.

• U internal half-height drive kzys.

• Eight 32-bit EISA exparuion slots (six EISA master
sbts and tv,o EISA sla\'e slots).

• Hifih-perrormance IDE (80 MB. 100 MB. 190 MB) and
ESDI (330 MB. 650 MB) hard diskdm«i.

650 MB VGA Cobr Phis System 433TE 425TE

Using 2 MB SIMMs $11,799 59.599

Using 4 MB SIMMs S12.199 S9.999

Prices listed include S MB of BAM.

AD CODE11E33

'Server problems? Just
ship 'em hack, okayl"

I krunv those babies like a cat
knows her kittens!'

"Where's the power switch?

My UNlXgiiy actually
talked to the factory once!

"But he's on vacation for tivo
tveeks.Soiry."

H From this foundation, create a powerful PC network

or UNIX workgroup. Dell's new systems have more than
enough performance to function as a LAN Server and WAN
or internetworking gateway. So they're capable of supporting
the most demanding server use— a multi-function network. Of

Tht Dell Syirem and d25TEoi« OauAd«vii:es sold for use ii comrnerdd efTvirorarienh onl>! E^rfoimaficB enhanwmerts; wiltiir ihe firaJ

megobylB of menwy 384 KB s reserved for use by iTie sysJem to enhonce pe*fonTwrKe. All systems ore p^otogro plied
prices end speciflcotlons ore subiect 'o chonge wirtiout notice, Dell connot be responsible lor errors in ty^ogrocJiy or photogrophy "Poy-
mentbosed on 36.fnonth,open-end lease. LeOSingorronged by Leosing Grotjp, Inc. In Conodo, configurations ond prices moy vory. DELL
SYSTEM IS o registered trodeitiork.Dell and SmonVu ore trodemorlrs of Deil Computer Corporotion Dell UNIX System V3.2 is bosed on
INTEIWCT1VE Systems Corporotlons386/li('- Intel Isoregisteredtrodemork and I486 and 436 ore troderrtorVs of Intel Corporotip<i.tFrom
Compoq July 23, 1990 press release, UNIX Is a registered trodemork of AT&Tlnttie United Stotesand ottter countries, Otfiertrtjdernorks
and trode names ore used to Idenhfy the entrtles claiming the modes and nomet; or their products, Dell Ctxnputer Corpprotlon disclaims
ony proprietory interest in trademorlrs ond trode nomes other than Its own,-On-site service moy not be Ovoiloble in certoin remote
loctttions, Shipping, hondling ondopplicoble soles tax not Included in the price. For informotion on ond o copy of Dell's 30-doyTo)ol
Sotisfoction Gucroniee, limited worronty ond Xerox's Service Contract, pleose write to Dell Computer Corporation, 9505 Arborehtm
Boule-ord, Austin, Texos78759-7299,ATT>J:Wprroiity, 41990 Dell Computer Corporohoo, All rights reserved-

course, they're completely compatible with all major network
operating systems, including Novell, 3COM and Banyan.

In a UNIX environment, the 425TE and 433TE are perfect
for workgroups supporting either traditional multiuser or
high-speed client/ser\'er environments.
You can buy Dell servers preloaded with
UNIX System y making them literally
plug and play. Even more impressive is the
fact that UNIX system administration can
be done by Dell, remotely.

Serticing servers is beyond most
Compaq dealers. If a server happens to
go down, your whole company can go
down with it.

Would you trust some unknown
technician to bring it back up?
We wouldn't.

That's why we have a special advanced
systems hotline so you can call us direct.
Dell is an AT&TUNIX source code licensee
and an authorized Novell Network Reseller.

On those rare occasions we can't fix
it over the phone, Xerox technicians will
come to your office with the solution or
a i ^r^sm^ a— part in hand."^
There's a lot more to knoiv before you buy a server.
When you call Dell, our experts will give you the help you
need to buy an advanced PC or UNIX server.

Then we'll send it off with a 30-day no questions asked
money back guarantee, and a one year limited warranty.
Call us.

Wdd like to make believers out of you.
Above and beymid the call.

DELL

COMPUTER

CORPORATION

Circle 104 on Reader Service Card

THE LAP OF LUXURY.

Talk about good things falling into
your lap.

Dell's first laptop -the 16 MHz 386" SX
—was PC Magazine's Editor's Choice, and won
PC Week's Corporate Satisfaction Poll for
386SX laptop computers.

Now we've made a faster 20 MHz model,
with a new higher contrast display.
And it's only $3,899.
Which is a hefty $2,900 less than

Compaq's SLT

TO ORDER, CALL

800'444'1470

HOURS:6AM-9PMCTM-F SAM-4PMCTSAT
IN CANADA, CALL 8(10-387-5752

386s/20.'

In fact, it even

costs less than most slower 16 MHz laptops.

How those other guys can charge so much
is insane.

(Here's another good one: We're also cutting the
price of our original 16 MHz laptop to $2, 999. That
should drive our competitors up the padded wall. )

It's a desktop PC trapped in the body of a laptop.

This lightweight laptop acts suspiciously like a
desktop system.

With the Intel® 20 MHz 386SX microprocessor, it's
as powerful as most desktops.

It's nearly as expandable, too. You get up to 8 MB

20 MHz 386SX

Lease: $141/mor*

THE NEW DELL SYSTEM' 320LT 20 MHz 386SX
AND THE DELL SYSTEM 316LT 16 MHz 386SX

• Ince! S0386SX microprocessor running at
20 MH: {320LT) or 16 MH: (316LT).

•Standard 1 MB of RAM* optional 2 MB of
RAM expandable to 8 MB (on the s>-stem board
using I MB SIMMS).

• LIM 4-0 support for memory over 1 MB.

• 640 X 480 VGA Liquid Crystal Display.

• One industry standard half-sise 8-bit expansion
slot.

• Dedicated Data/F^x modem sloc-

• Socket for Intel 80387SX math coprocessor.
•3.5" 1.44 MB diskette dnve.

• 83-ke>' ke>'board with embedded ruimerk Is^pad.

I ADCODE11E32 |

• 1 parallel, 1 serial, and external VGA monitor
port.

• Connector for lOl-kev' keyboard or numeric
keypad.

• Connector for external 5.25" 1.2 MBdidcette
drive.

• Two removable and rechargeable N iCad battery
packs utilizing Dell's "Continuous Fbwer Battery
Sv-stem" (patent pending).

316LT: 20 MB. I MB RAM S2.999
320LT: 40 MB. 2 MB R.^M $3,899

•Performonce Enhoncemwils: Within the first megabyte of memory, 128KB is reserved for use by the system to enhonce

performance. DEILSYSTE// a o registered trodemorfcond Delso trodernorko^Del ConiputerCbrporotk^

ord 336 is 0 Iroderriark or Intel Corporal. tSoira: [^jtacFjest inc. (5|^^

feose. -leosing onwged by Le<Ming Group, lot In Conoda configu^^

typogrcph/ or phtfogrophy SHippifig. hofiding ond (vpfceab^

kisnhty *<e entifjes diirrm^ the rrixfa ond nornes or iIt^

rrorVs or>d trode ryynes Oiner 4kvi is OSMa -^Orvsie sennoe rnoy rx)! b^

roton. All rights reserved- FcrinfentxSion on ond ocopyofDeTsSO-DoyTisidSofefactionGuo^^
Ccotroci, pleose lo Del Conipoler CorpofoSon. 9505 Arborefiw Bou^^

THE LAP OF LUNACY.

of RAM, a 3.5" 1.44 MB diskette drive and a 20 or 40
MB hard drive. It also has a dedicated slot for a Dell "
Data/Fax modem, and a separate slot for a standard
half-length expansion card. (On a Compaq, that
expansion slot would cost you an extra $1,000).

When it's time to stay put, you can connect our
laptop to an external VGA monitor and keyboard, a
5. 25" external floppy disk drive, and even to your
network or mainframe.

If you can tvork 24 hours a day, our
laptop can tvork 24 hours a day. Dell's
special Continuous Power Battery System lets
you change batteries without losing your data,
or your train of thought. The system includes
two lightweight rechargeable battery packs.

The service goes where you go. If you have
a question, our toll-free technical hotline
solves 90% of all problems over the phone. If
we can't solve it over the phone, a trained
technician from Xerox will be sent to your
lapside the next business day — nearly
anywhere in the contiguous U.S.-

For sale, for lease, for less. When you call
us, you talk with a computer expert whose
sole mission is to give you exactly what you
want. At a great price. We'll custom configure your
laptop, give you a 30-day no questions asked money
back guarantee, and a choice of leasing plans."^

Then we'll do a configured system test, and ship it
wherever you want.

Call now for either our 16 MHz or new 20 MHz
386SX laptops.

It'd be lunacy not to.
Above and beyond the call.

DELL

COMPUTER

CORPORATION

Circle 105 on Reader Service Card

The floppy disk icon "D0S-1.44M" is actually
an MS-DOS^ disk, brought to you by AccessPCV

Shown: Lotus" 1-2-3" release2.2, running
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nc. 254 Son GefDnimoWoy, Sunnyvale, CA 94086. Fox: 408-733-9541. We give a So/fPClretoi! S399) or ,4ccessPC program (retail 5129) doily to ocoller selected at raridom.
registered trademark and ^^ccessAT iso trademark of Insignia Solutions. Inc. Other product nomes are trademarks or registered trademorksof their respective owners-

Circle 173 on Reader Service Card

EXPERT ADVICE
MACINATIONS ■ Don Crabb

WORKING

WITH Windows 3.0
AND A Mac

Overall, the Windows

3.0/386 combo

is an 85 percent Mac

As I have written here before,
using Windows 3.0 on a good-
quality 386 PC is surprisingly
similar to using a Mac Ilex.
It's nowhere near an exact match, but it's
close enough to force the obvious com-
parisons. Overall, I call the Windows
3.0/386 combo an 85 percent Mac.

The reality of microcomputing life is
that lots of different graphical user inter-
faces (GUIs), stuck on lots of different
operating systems, are going to be the
norm for the nineties. Mac and Windows
users must learn to get along, because in-
teroperability will be the defining tech-
nology. I have had my share of Mac OS/
Windows 3.0 attempts at detente, and
here are some early tips based on my ex-
perience.

Networking

I do a lot of work over computer net-
works, both at home and at the office. I
use both LocalTalk and Ethernet to in-
terconnect Macs, PCs, Sun SPARCsta-
tions, and NeXT Computers. For Win-
dows 3.0 to be a viable GUI for me
means that I have to make it work with
these existing networks.

Right now, that's a big problem. I use
both AppleShare and TOPS on the PCs
and Macs, while Network File System
handles the file sharing over the Unix
boxes. Thus, I want to run AppleShare
PC or TOPS on my Windows-equipped
PCs, or even NFS. But that's not yet pos-
sible. None of these file-server technol-
ogies are Windows 3.0-compatible.

I've tried loading AppleShare PC and
TOPS first and then loading Windows
3.0 on the PCs, but there's not enough
memory left in the 640K-byte start-up

segment for Windows to fly. I've also
tried Windows in real mode (where you
lose all the multitasking and extended
memory magic) to shoehorn in the net-
working stuff, but that's been a wash.

Novell's NetWare or 3Com's 3 -I- Share
might be an answer for my cross-plat-
form file sharing, since Windows 3.0 has
hooks that can support these networked
operating systems. But the cheapest ver-
sion of NetWare that supports all my
Macs and PCs as clients would cost me
$4600. 1 don't see that as much of a solu-
tion. Plus, I'd need to establish a PC as a
dedicated NetWare server, to say nothing
of the hassle of Novell network adminis-
tration.

NFS isn't an answer either, since there
is no PC version of it that works with
Windows. The best I can do is run my
PCs under DOS 4.01 and do my file
sharing over the networks under that op-
erating system. Then, I can kill the net-
works and reboot under Windows to run

my applications. Not exactly transparent
networking, is it? Let's hope that Apple
and Sitka (formerly TOPS) can fix things
at their end, and that Microsoft's prom-
ised easy adaptability of Windows 3.0 to
different networks becomes a reality.

File Exchange

When I've used a Toshiba T3100SX lap-
top on the road and want to move its files
over to my Mac, I have always used Trav-
eling Software's LapLink Mac III. It
works well and simply. Luckily, Lap-
Link Mac III works fine as a non-Win-
dows application, so I can continue to use
it that way. Since I'm using Microsoft
Word for Windows on the T3100SX, I
also don't have to worry about invoking
file-conversion software or file filters.

I've tried other file-exchange solutions
on the T3100SX and on both an Out-
bound Systems portable Mac and Ap-
ple's Mac Portable connected to a To-
shiba T5200 running Windows 3.0. I

ILLUSTRATION: TOM SCIACCA © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 - BYTE 107

MACINATIONS

used a direct serial connection on both
Macs to the T5200 and ran Procomm as a
non-Windows application on the T5200,
while running VersaTerm-Pro on the
Macs.

A similar serial connection between
the T3 lOOSX and a Mac Ilci also worked
fine for file exchanges as long as I made
sure to use the correct file translators or
filters first. For the most part, I use the
Apple File Exchange with the Claris,
DataViz (Mac Link Plus), and Systems
Compatibility (Software Bridge) transla-
tors for this. I've had no trouble getting
PageMaker 4.0, Excel 2.2, PowerPoint
2.0, and other files over to Windows
from the Mac.

As more DOS and Mac vendors pro-
duce Windows 3.0-compatible software,
the transparent exchange of files between
these two operating systems should be-
come much easier.

On-Line Service and BBS Access
Over the past two years, I've become ad-
dicted to the ease of use offered by Con-
nect's MacNet, CompuServe's Naviga-
tor, AppleLink, and America Online.
Unfortunately, there is no Windows 3.0

version of AppleLink, and the same is
true for America Online, a service dedi-
cated to Mac users with a spiffy GUI.

Thankfully, though, there is a PC ver-
sion of Connect (PCNet), and I've gotten
by with it in the past. Unfortunately, it's
not expected to appear in a Windows-
compatible version anytime soon, and I
can't make it work quite right as a non-
Windows application. Although there's
no Windows version of Navigator, Com-
puServe does have a new PC package for
making access easier, called the Compu-
Serve Information Manager. But it's not
Windows 3.0-compatible either, and it's
pretty mediocre compared to all the auto-
scripting capabilities of Navigator.

For Windows 3 .0 to gain the same rep-
utation as a high-quality interface for
on-line services as the Mac, we need
Windows-based on-line software written
for it.

Similarities and Differences
Can Aggravate

If you spend more than 5 minutes using
Windows 3.0, you realize that it looks
more like the Mac Finder/MultiFinder
than it works like it. While Windows 3.0

includes resizable windows, scroll bars,
menus, icons, proportional screen fonts,
and color, the way they work isn't usu-
ally the same as their Mac equivalents.

If you're a Mac person, a number of
annoying omissions (e.g., the lack of a
Trashcan and different functional menu
bars for each Desktop window) can con-
fuse you. If you're used to the clean
screen fonts on the Mac, you'll hate the
lousy screen fonts under Windows, al-
though Adobe's Type Manager for Win-
dows should help. You'll also find that
many of the Windows icons look a tad
mediocre.

There are quite a few Windows capa-
bilities that Mac users would love to
have: icons that represent parent and
daughter windows (which keeps the
Desktop tidy), standard interapplication
communication in the form of Dynamic
Data Exchange that MacFolk have to
wait for System 7.0 to savor, true pre-
emptive multitasking with dynamic
memory allocation (System 7.0 won't
have dynamic memory), and seriously
enhanced printer control.

Mac users with anything more than a
passing familiarity with that machine

i

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BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990 Circle 359 on Reader Service Card

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Circle 378 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 379)

TheQ

You're traveling through another dimension
— a dimension of increasing storage demands
and rewritable optical technology.

Submitted for your approval, storage solu-
tions from the #1 source of optical storage
systems in the world. Systems designed
for Macintosh, SUN, DEC, HP, IBM
and compatibles. Support for ad-
vanced applications running
Unix, Xenix, A/UX, NoveU,
and more.

Pinnacle Micro, the leader
in this new storage revolution,
provides expanded storage for
multimedia, digital video, pre-press,
desktop publishing, CAD/CAM, and other
data-intensive applications.

In the Optical Zone, these storage requirements
are met with the latest optical technology
available. From the world's first 3.5 inch optical
drive to the largest selling 5.25 inch optical
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\^th optical storage,
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Circle 284 on Reader Service Card

MACINATIONS

will peg Windows 3.0 as being different.
After a bit more exploration, you'll likely
find that it's annoyingly different, de-
spite some of its obvious pluses. After a
few months, you'll find yourself asking
when Windows 4.0 is coming out to fix
all the interface mistakes Microsoft still
managed to build into version 3.0.

On the other hand, Windows 3.0 users
should be able to switch over to a Mac (or
switch back and forth between the two
environments) with considerably less

It's true! We can turn
your existing ~™"
Series I! or III
printer into a _
1 000 X 1 000
Turbo Res™

Plain-Paper ^
Typesetter! National TeleVAR™
(Raster Devices Direct) intro-
duces the 1000 Enhancer Kit™
for your HP Series II or III printer.

By using a new imaging
technology called
TurboRes™ on our PC-based
controller, we can transform
your 300 dpi printer into a
state-of-the-art Plain-Paper
Typesetter that gives you print
quality previously undreamed of,
even on devices costing over
$20,000.

Send us your HP Series II or III
laser printer and we will do
the rest. We factory install a
video board and connector in
your Series II or III, and supply a
PC/XT/AT or MCA 6Mb printer
controller, 135 scaleable fonts,
direct driver software for

trouble, since Windows 3.0 is a vast im-
provement over version 2.03. And it does
look a lot like a Mac. Sometimes looking
good is all that matters, I guess.

Tip of the Month:
Subscribe to a Newsletter

This past summer proved to be another
tough time for computer magazines. An
industry that was already condensed has
compacted further with the failures of
VNU's Personal Computing, IDG's PC

Resource, and CMP's Macintosh News.

Surprisingly, though, as some main-
stream computer magazines have failed,
computer newsletters have gotten stron-
ger. Old standbys like Stewart Alsop's
PC Letter have gotten bigger and better,
while McGraw-Hill's BYTEWEEK has
established itself as a reliable weekly for
up-to-the-minute computing news and
analysis for both PC and Mac users.

Two of my most pleasant surprises,
however, come from industry experts
relatively new to the newsletter game.
Denise Caruso, the gifted columnist of
the San Francisco Examiner and several
on-line venues, has just started a newslet-
ter for working multimedia users.

Called Media Letter, this newsletter is
exactly what real multimedia people
need. If you're using your Mac for multi-
media work, or if you expect to in the fu-
ture, you should subscribe to Media Let-
ter (P.O. Box 142075, Coral Gables, PL
33114, (305) 441-1282). It costs from
$195 to $395 a year, depending on your
institutional affiliation.

My favorite Mac newsletter will soon
be celebrating its first anniversary. The
Weigand Report (P.O. Box 647, Gales
Ferry, CT 06335, (203) 464-6188) is
written and published by former MAC-
azine and Personal Publishing editor
Chuck Weigand. This newsletter practi-
cally begs to be read, since it's jammed
with useful and specific tips for Mac
novices and Mac experts.

Since much of Chuck's expertise is in
desktop publishing, that's the focus, but
the newsletter also includes coverage
germane to small-business Mac owners.
A recent issue had articles on high-reso-
lution plain paper printers, font-transfor-
mation software, SCSI-bus screwups
caused by multiple SCSI devices, and the
compression of TIFF images.

Chuck gives you plenty of theoretical
and engineering (he is, after all, a retired
Navy lieutenant commander and nuclear
submariner) information about the topics
he covers, but he also includes plenty of
practical tips for solving the problems he
reveals. A yearly subscription to the Wei-
gand Report (20 issues) costs $128. It's
easily worth thrice the price. ■

Don Crabb is the director of laboratories
and a senior lecturer for the computer
science department at the University of
Chicago. He is also a contributing editor
for BYTE. He can be reached on BIX as
"decrabb."

Your questions and comments are wel-
come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One
Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH
03458.

1000 DPI!

From Your HP LaserJet Series II or III

Windows
(such as
PageMaker,
CorelDRAW!,
Micrografx
Designer, Word
Windows, etc.),
GEM (such as Xerox Ventura
Publisher, GEM Artline, etc.) and
Word Perfect.

CALL NOW! 1-800-468-1732,
Source Code #106 (In MN:
612-941-4919) and ask about the
1000 Enhancer Kit for your
Series II or III printer. The 300
dpi barrier will fall by the way-
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1000 TurboRes. Note that all
your existing PCL functionality
remains unchanged, so your
printer can live in both worlds
—PCL and 1000x1000 TurboRes!

PrePress Systems Specialists

Formerly Raster Devices Direct, inc.

©1990. Raster Devices Direct, Inc., National TeleVAR and 1000 Enhancer Kit are trademarks of Raster Devices
Corporation. TurboRes is a licensed technology and a trademarl< of Laserf^aster Corporation. All other product
and brand names are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective companies. All prices and
specifications are subject to change without notice. Please call for current pricing and warranty details.

VISA, MASTERCARD AND AMERICAN EXPRESS ACCEPTED

110 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 252 on Reader Service Card

Database Users
Respond To Queries

In a series of recent polls, Oracle's
products were ranked number one
by five magazines representing over
four hundred thousand readers.
Leading to only one conclusion:
Oracle's database and networking
products are the best solutions for
the widest variety of PC and Mac
users.

The readers of both DATA BASED
ADVISOR andDBMS Magazine named
Professional ORACLE Tools and
Database the best SQL-based data-
base. The readers of VARBUSINESS,

who should know something about
developing applications, named it
the best applications software. And
Government Computer News cited
reliability, compatibility and speed
as some of the reasons they awarded
Professional ORACLE Tools and
Database the number one data
manager for local area networks.

ORACLE for Macintosh received
its share of acclaim from Info World
readers, who named it Macintosh
Product of the Year.

Info World readers also

named Oracle's newest desktop
product, ORACLE Server for OS/2,
product of the year. As did
subscribers of DBMS Magazine,
who rated ORACLE Server for OS/2
the best database server.

Call 1-800-633-0498 Ext. 4905 to
order or sign up for the free Oracle
Client-Server Forum in your area.
And see what kind of software
generates this kind of hardware.

Professional ORACLE Tools ^
and Database Version 5.1 C

$1,299

Professional ORACLE Tools
Version 5.1 0

$799

ORACLE tor Macintosti Version 1 .2
Database Version
Networkstation Version
(without database)

$699
$299

ORACLE Server for OS/2

$3,699

ORACLE for 1-2-3 Version 1 .1

$299

To order call 1 -800-633-0498 ext. 490;

Compatibility • Portability • Connectability

a 990 Ora* CocpcraSOT. ORACLE is a registered lrademari< of
Irademark, or legislered Oadema* of »ie respective manufatJurer. Cal 1 -eoOORACLEI lor haidirare dni solfcvare requi-emetils.

Have you heard our

Adobe Systems ... NCP

7902 n Adobe Tyfe Manager for Windows and
Microsoft Windows 3.0-Clean up that jagged
type with Adobe Type Manager and
Windows 3.0. Two hot programs for one
great price. Specify media size $149.

□ SVz" format available from us. Specify
when ordering.

s pacitage Includes both 5V4" and 3V2"
disl(s.

B VI2" format available from manufacturer
by request. Call us for details.

CP— copy-protected; NCP— not copy-protected.

The four-digit number next to each product
Is the product's ITEM NUMBER. Please refer
to this numl}er when ordering. Thank you.

SOFTWARE

We only carry the latest versions of products.
Version numbers In our ads are current at
press time.

Products listed here in red are Microsoft
Windows Applications.

Corel Systems ... NCP

5506 aCorclDRAW! f i-The world's leading
PC illustration software now comes with
even more value: CorelTRACE, over 100
typefaces, over 300 clip-art images, a Pantone
license-all bundled in for free $329.

Adobe Systems ... NCP

6591 Blllustrator Windows 1.0 $279.

7547 HAdobe Type Manager for Windows 59.
7902 □ Adobe Type Manager for Windows and

Microsoft Windows 3.0 149.

6590 aStreamline Windows 1.0 229.

7392 BAdobe PostScript Cartridge .... 249.

(Entire Adobe Type Library, from 1 to 133

is available. Call for more information.)

Aldus ... NCP
1332 DPageMakerS.OI 499.

Alpha Software ... NCP
5104 aAlpha Four 1.1 319.

Application Techniques ... NCP
1214 BPizazz Plus 2.0 69.

ASD Software ... NCP
7847 HPIanlsoftl.0 145.

Ashton-Tate ... NCP
4450 DdBASEIV 1.1 499.

Asymetrix ... NCP
7384 BToolbook 1.0 for Windows 309.

ASD Software ... NCP

7847 SPlanisoft f 0-Coordinate agendas,
find available time-slots for appointments,
keep track of dealines & priorities, distribute
tasks, optimize resources, share information
between PCs & Macs over any LAN . $145.

Avery ... NCP

6006 aLabelProl.0 49.

7336 aLabel Pro I.Ofor Dot Matrix 49.

Bitstream ... NCP
7568 BFaceLift 1 .0 59.

BCollectlons: Newsletters, Flyers, Books

& Manuals, Reports and Proposals,

Presentations or Spreadsheets each 129.

BFontware eacfi 89.

Borland International ... NCP
7357 0TurboC-t- -^ 1.0 Professional ... . 159.
7356 HTurbo Pascal Professional 2nd Ed. 179.

6242 HQuattro Pro 1 ,0 325.

1514 aParadox3.0 469.

Broderbund ... NCP
1434 DNew Print Shop (NCP) 39.

Button Ware ... NCP
6419 aPC-FileS.0 89,

Caere ... NCP
6004 BOmnlpage386 2.1 599.

Central Point ... NCP

5039 aPC Tools Deluxe 6.0 89.

5038 □CopyllPC5.0 27.

Checi(free

6360 CheckFree (electronic cfiecl<ing sn/.) $25.

Chipsoft ... NCP
1663 aTurboTax 8.0 for 1990 Taxes 45.

CompuServe
7546 DOS Membership Kit 23.

Concentric Data Systems ... NCP
6575 BR &R Relational Report Writer 38 109.

Corel Systems ... NCP
5506 QCorelDRAW! 1.2 329.

Custom Applications ... NCP
7474 DFreedom of Press 2.2 255.

Data Storm ... NCP
4798 BPROCOMM PLUS 1.1 65.

DCA ... NCP

2908 nCrosstalk XVI 3.71 119.

5611 nCrosstalk for Windows 1.1 129.

Delrina Technology ... NCP
7351 BPerFORMPRO 1.0 for Windows. 299.

Fifth Generation Systems ... NCP

7725 BDIrect Access 5.0 59.

2762 DMace Utilities 1990 99.

7795 BDisklockl.0 109,

3950 BFastback Plus 2.1 119.

FNN Data Broadcasting
7005 aNewsReal 1.0 99.

FormWorx ... NCP
5810 DFormWorx with Fill & File 2.5 ... . 85.
7311 BForm Publisher for Windows 1.2. 145.

Fox Software ... NCP
6188 0FoxPro1.O2 489.

Franklin Software ... NCP

7071 BLanguage Master 2.0 59.

7416 BLanguage Master 3.0 for Windows 59.

Funi( Software ... NCP

2228 DSidewaysS.S 52.

7380 BRD. Queue 1 .0 (print spooler) ... 55.

Generic Software ... NCP
2265 BGenerlcCADD Level3 1.1.3... 225.

Great American Software ... NCP
4880 nOne Write Plus Acct. Sys. 2.06 . . 179.
5825 BMoney Matters 1.0 55.

Harvard Associates ... NCP
2324 0PC Logo 3.0 59.

Chipsoft ... NCP

1663 \ilTurhoTax8.0for 1990 Taxes-The best-
seUing, easiest-to-use and most complete
software for preparing individual tax returns.
TurboTax provides on-line help, IRS instruc-
tions and comprehensive tax assistance $45.

f

latest breakthrough

hDC Computer Corp. ... NCP

7389 HWindows Express 3.0 $55.

7383 [wFirstApps 1.0 55.

Hilgraeve ... NCP
2323 H HyperACCESS/5 1 . 1 (DOS & OS/2) 115.

IBM ... NCP
6599 CCurrent1.1 239.

Individual Software ... NCP
6222 aResume Maker 1.1 29.

Inset Systems ... NCP

7298 HHijaak2.0 99.

7300 a Inset Plus Hijaak 125.

Intuit ... NCP
2426 HQuicken3.0 39.

Isogon ... NCP
7478 BFontSpace 2.0 59.

Laser Go ... NCP
7635 DGo Script Plus 3.0 189.

LaserTools ... NCP
6882 HPrintCache2.3 99.

Loitl Publishing ... NCP
5191 HRonstadt's Financials 1.02 75.

Lotus ... NCP

5417 □1-2-3 3.1 call

5653 □1-2-3 2.2 349.

5134 aMagellan2.0 119.

MECA ... NCP
4603 HAndrew Tobias' Tax Cut-1990 Taxes 49.

7002 BHome Lawyer 1.0 69.

2798 DManaging Your Money 6.0 135.

Microcom ... NCP

7649 HVirexl.1 79.

6234 DCarbonCopy Plus 5.2 119.

Micrografx ... NCP
7683 □Ctnarisma 1.0 349.

Micro Logic ... NCP
6787 a Info Select 1.1 55.

Microlytics ... NCP
2731 □GOfer2.0 45.

Microsoft ... NCP
7882 □Productivity Pack for Windows. . . 45.

7010 □Windows3.0 99.

7388 aProject for Windows 1.0 469.

7387 BPowerPoint for Windows 1.0 329.

FomWorx ... NCP

7311 Hftm Publisher pr Windows f 2-Desktop
publishing designed especially for creating
professional-quality forms. Use unique
object-oriented design techniques & import
graphics. Over 600 forms included! . . $145.

2904 □Works 2.0 $99.

2901 □Word 5.0 209.

6195 aWord for Windows 1.1 329.

2856 a Excel 2.1 329.

2894 □QuickBASIC 4.5 69.

2853 aC Compiler 6.0 339.

Multisoft ... NCP
4925 □PC-Kwik Power Pak 1 .5 79.

Nolo Press ... NCP
2982 □WillMaker4.0 39.

Norton-Lambert ... NCP

4928 □Close-Up Customer/Terminal 3.0 135.

4929 □Close-Up Support/ACS 3.0 ... . 165.
PC Globe ... NCP

5902 DPC Globe 4.0 39.

5900 □PCUSA2.0 39.

Personics ... NCP

4384 aUltravision 2.0 79.

7048 aMonarch 1 .0 (Data Mgmt. Tool) . 319.

PowerUp ... NCP

7860 aCalendar Creator Plus 45.

7858 BExpress Publisher 2.0 89.

Funk Software ... NCP

2228 nSideways 3.3-Rotates your spread-
sheets 90° as they print $52,

7380 \EP.D. Qmuc 10-Lotus add-in that saves
time by spooling Sideways & Allways output
to hard disk & printing in the background 55.

Precision Software ... NCP

6600 sSuperbase 4 for Windows 1.2 .. 469.

Qualitas ... NCP
7539 □386MAX5.0 75.

Quarterdeck ... NCP

6422 nQRAM 1.0 49.

3221 DExpanded Memory Mgr. 386 5.1 . 59.

3220 □DESQView2.3 79.

4586 □DESQView386 5.1 129.

Reality Technologies ... NCP
6572 aWealthBuilderl.1 145.

Reference Software ... NCP

4396 BGrammatiklVI.0 52.

7483 aGrammatik for Windows 1.0 52.

1-800/776-7777

liljlliyiQ PC Connection 780B
.^^ — 6 Mill Street

Marlow, NH 03456
SALES 603/446-7721 FAX 603/446-7791

Bitstream ... NCP

7568 lEfaceLijt f.O-Fast & easy-to-use, scales
screen & printer fonts to any size. 13 type-
faces to give you professional documents
instandy. Superb laser output & near laser-
quality output for dot matrix printers . $59.

Revolution Software ... NCP

4480 aVGA Dimmer 2.01 (Screensaver; . 29.

RightSoft ... NCP
4155 BRightWriter4.0 55.

Samna ... NCP
5799 aAmi Professional 1 .2 309.

Softlogic Solutions ... NCP
3542 □Software Carousel 4.0 55.

Software Publishing ... NCP

3499 nPFSiFirst Publisher 3.0 99.

3478 GPFSiFirst Choice 3.02 105.

3496 nProfessional Write 2.2 179.

3482 DHarvard Graphics 2.3 359.

Spinnaker ... NCP
7604 BPIus for Windows 1.0 289.

Symantec ... NCP

3152 aNorton Commander 3.0 105.

6397 aThe Norton Backup 1.1 105.

3146 BThe Norton Utilities 5.0 125.

3425 □Q&A3.0 229.

3431 □Timeline 4.0 469.

Software Publishing ... NCP

3482 nHamrd Graphics 2.3-New version!
Built-in drawing tools and other new features
make this superior graphics and charting
program a top performer Graphically the
best choice $359.

®:

Aa rrEMS subject to availabiuty. prices subject to change without nohce.

Makes unpacking

\

^^■x t iX'Tr ft

Qualitas ... NCP

7539 Oi86MAX^.O-?ovftM new
MAXIMIZE feature finds and uses all the
memory you paid for Automatic install makes
this industry -standard memory manager
indispensable for all level of 386 users . $75.

MicRtioli Pnxiudiviiy
li)rW"nx!tM«

Microsoft ... NCP

7882 DProductivity Pack pr Windows-hdudes:
Learning Windows-a comprehensive tutorial,
Working Smarter-on-line productivity tips,
and Quick Troubleshooter-helps solve
common Windows problems $45.

Systems Compatibility ... NCP

6564

□Software Bridge 4.1

79

TIMESLIPS ... NCP

2987

□Timeslips III 4,0

195

6994

□PercentEdge 1.0

69

Timeworl(S ... NCP

6253

BPublish-lt! 1.1

115

TOPS ... NCP

6675

□TOPS Network Bundle 3.0

159

3720

Flashcard 2.1 (AppleTalk network card;

1 year warranty)

155

Touchstone Software ... NCP

7420

aCheckltS.O

89

Traveling Software ... NCP

5179

aLapLinklllS.O

95

TrueBASiC ... NCP

3561

BTrue BASIC 2.1

52

Vericomp ... NCP

6771

BMemory Master 1.1

45

Voil(Swriter ... NCP

6246

□Volkswriter4 1.02

109

Touchstone Software ... NCP

7420 lECkck It 3.0-Diagnostic software will
help find and get rid of system problems. Run
over 160 tests on all major system components.
Results can be logged to disk or printer with
suggestions on fixing simple troubles .. $89.

West Lal<e Data Corp. ... NCP

7577 □PC-FullBak-^ 1.12 $52.

7574 BPathMinder-^ 1.0 79.

7575 ElVaiuePak (includes 4 programs) . . 69.
WordPerfect Corp. ... NCP

7781 HLetterPerfectl.O 135.

3804 □WordPerfect 5.1 265.

6685 HDrawPerfectl.1 279.

WordStar internationai ... NCP
6791 □WordStar Prof. 6.0 279.

Xerox ... NCP
7796 BVentura Publisher for Windows 3.0 569.

XTREE ... NCP
6161 HXTreePro Gold 1 .4 75.

ZSoft ... NCP
7016 BPC Paintbrush IV Plus 1.0 119.

7014 BPCPaintbrushPlusforWndows1.12 89.
RECREATIONAL/EDUCATIONAL

Broderbund ... CP

5701 □Where/Time Carmen Sandiego? . 32.
5851 BSimCity 33.

PCGlobe PCUSA

PC Globe ... NCP

5902 DPC USA 2.0-lnstant profiles on all
50 states and Puerto Rico, including maps,

graphics, and data $39.

5900 DPC Globe 4.0-Frovides profiles of 177
countries. Exports to many programs . . 39.

Electronic Arts ... NCP

5804 BDeluxe Paint II f£n^anceo'; 89.

HyperGlot ... NCP

7849 □Word Torture -French 29.

7853 □Word Torture -Spanish 29.

Microsoft ... NCP

2858 DFIight Simulator 4.0 39.

Penton Overseas ... NCP
BVocabuLearn/ce Levels I & II (French,
Italian, German, Spanish, Russian,

Hebrew and Japanese) each 39.

Sierra On-Line ... CP

6023 BLeisure Suit Larry III 39.

6796 aCodename: Iceman 39.

6972 aConquests of Camelot 39.

Software Toolworks ... NCP

6436 IBHunt for Red October 20.

4659 BChessmaster 2100 fCPJ 35,

Stone & Assoc. ... NCP

7564 BYoung Math fages 5 to 8j 22,

3439 B2nd Math fages 7to16) 27,

Toyogo ... NCP

7676 BGo Master Deluxe 89,

True BASIC, Inc. ... NCP

BKemeny/Kurtz Math Series, each 45,

HARDWARE

Manufacturer's standard limited
warranty period for items shown is
listed after each company name.
Some products in their line may
have different warranty periods.

American Power ... 2 years

7108 APC Smart-UPS 400 339,

6811 360SX fsfand-by power sourcej. , , 219,
7107 450AT (sfand-by power sourcej. . . 279.
7106 520ES fsfanc/-by power sourcej. . . 329.

AST Research ... 2 years

1299 SixPakPlus 384k C/S/P 179.

6795 SixPak 286 512k 179.

4107 RAMpage Plus 286 512k 419.

Boca Research ... 5 years
7001 BOCARAM/AT PLUS (0-8 Meg)

(LIM 4.0 extended) 125.

7061 BOCARAM/XT OK fO-2 Meg, L/M 4,0) 99,
7135 TophAT (16-bit backfill 512K to 640K) 99,

6998 I/O Board for AT 59,

6999 I/O Board for MicroChannel S/S/P , 109,
6995 SuperVGA fSOOx 600, 76/8 b/tj ,, , 115,
7026 ^024VGA (16 bit non-interlaced). . 149,

Bravo Communications
7400 2 Pes. Laser Compatible Switch Box 1 09,

Brother International ... 1 year
5787 HL-8e Laser Printer fHP2comp.j. 1399.

Canon ... 1 year
7894 BJ-lOe BubbleJet Printer f4.6/5.J . 349.
7896 Sheet feeder for BJ-lOe 75,

CH Products ... 1 year
7341 Gamecard 1 1 1 Plus (for Ivlicrochannel

PS/2S) 49,

7340 Flight Stick f/nc/udes Fa/con F-76; , , 49,
7345 Rollermouse (TracW)a/<) sena/ 85, bus 99,

Compucable ... 2 years
1604 2-Position switch box 25,

800.2^3-8088

HERE

^^^^

■ mm

YOUOmTHEW

V I (N I) 0 W S

PC Clout.

Diamonds in the rough.

(Or, why you're always safe with us.)

An early fall afternoon. The sky is bluer than the
IBM logo and there's enough electricity in the air
to light up Yankee Stadium. You could be at
Candlestick, Wrigley, or Fenway, munching a frank, and
yelling, "It's outta here!" But the players are suspiciously
furry and there's a level of play you rarely see anymore,
even in the big leagues. Welcome to
the silicon sandlot of Marlow, NH ■'' ^
(pop. 563). Where the only game
that's played is hardball. And where
we don't take American Express.
(Just VISA, MC, and Corporate P.O.s.)

Students of the game know that
when it comes to PC mail order we

wrote the book: toll-free tech support, latest versions
only, and price lists complete with up-to-date stats on
warranties, disk size, and copy protection. Give us a
call next time you need to know the score on any PC
product. We'll never leave you out in left field.
Get into the swing of things.
We have a reputation for always going to bat for our
customers. Well now you can go to bat for yourself

anytime you like with your very own
32" "R.G. Johnson" bat, custom-
made and hand-crafted in New
England from solid ash by R.G.'s
grandson Bob. This cracker-jack offer
0^ is free to everyone who places an

order of $1000 or more between now
and November 30.

A4'

Go for the fences with tbe PC Connection Bat
featuring our own heavy-hitting mascots. Offer not
available to accounts on net terms. One per customer.

©COPYRIGHT PC CONNECnON. INC.. 1990. PC CONNECTION AND TWE FWCCOON CHARACItR^S) ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF PC CONNECTION. INC., MARLOW, NH,

Newsprint is in.

3102 2400 Baud External Modem .... $179.
5286 2400 Baud Int. MNP Modem fLeK 5j 175.
5285 2400 Baud Ext. MNP Modem (Lw. 5) 209.
4542 2400 Baud Internal Modem for PS/2 . 229.

Reflection Technology .. 1 year
7127 Pmate Eye (virtual display) 499.

SAFE Power Systems ... 2 years

7913 Safe650W 459.

7914 Safe800W 599.

4560 Safe 1200W 739.

Targus ... lifetime

4899 Nylon Laptop carrying case 55.

6037 Premier leather carrying case ... . 199.

TheComplete PC ... 2 years

5140 TfieComplete Page Scanner 549.

5828 TheComplete Communicator ... . 449.

Tripp Lite ... 2 years

6199 Isobar 4-6 (4 outlets, 6 ft. cord) 49.

6200 Isobar 6-6 (6 outlets, 6 ft. cord) 59.

Video? ... 7 years

5883 ^024\yGA (includes 512k) 219.

4931 VRAM VGA 512k 379.

I

SAFE Power Systems ... 2 years

7913 Safe 6jOW-M\ new space-saving
design provides easy storage of your batteiy
backup. LED status lights, audible alarm,

transient protection, and more $459.

(See SAFE Power listing for more models)

DRIVES

IOMEGA ... lyear

5116 Bernoulli II Single 44 Meg Internal 995.
5113 44 Meg Cartridge Tripakf5'/<"j. . . 249.

2500 PC2B Controller 229.

7551 Bernoulli II Transportable 44 Meg . 997.

Mountain Computer ... lyear
2917 40-60 Meg Internal Tape Drive. . . 299.

5502 83-152M Ext. Tape Drive 799.

5190 DC2000 Pre-formatted Cartridges ea. 35.

Pacific Rim ... 1 year

5009 1.2 Meg External 209.

5010 1.2 Meg External ffor PS/2 'sj 215.

6602 1.44 External (for PC/XW; 239.

Plus Development ... 2 years

6425 HardcardlUOMegfjams; 399.

6424 Hardcardll80Meg(79ms; 699.

Seagate ... 1 year
2285 20 Meg Int. Hard Drive ST225

(w/controller and cables, 65 ms) . . 255.

2286 3-1 Meg Int. Hard Drive ST238R

(w/controller and cables, 65 ms) . $269.

4554 40 Meg Int. HD ST251-1 (28 ms) . . 329.
TEAC ... 1 year

4951 720k Drive (specify XT or AT, 3W) . 75.

4670 1 ,44 Meg Drive for PC/XT (3V2"). . . 89.

4326 1.44 Meg Drive for AT 109.

The Intel
SatisFAXtion
Board

1 atkLs

I iiiid a nKxIetn

1 10

Intel ... 5 years

7782 SatisFAXtion-Send and receive faxes
from within most applications using the
print command. Built-in 2400 bps MNP
modem standard. Includes coupons for free
PC Tools and Fax-It software $399.

Canon ... lyear

7894 BJ-iOe Bubhkja Printer-light weight,
excellent print quality and a great price make
this 4.6 lb. printer a winner. Choice of black
or white. Optional sheet feeder $349.

2789
2790
2792
2793

3291
3292
3297
3298
6659

DISKS

Maxell ... lifetime

SVi" MD2-D 360k Disks fO/y 10) . . . . 12.
5V4" MD2-HD 1.2Mb Disks fOfy: 10). . 19.
3V2" DS/DD 720k Diskettes (Qty. 10) . . 14.
3V2" DS/HD 1.44Mb Diskettes fOy 10) 27.
Sony ... lifetime

5V4" DS/DD 360k Disks fQ(y 10) ... . 10.
5V<i" DS/HD 1.2Mb Disks CQ/K 10) . . . 19.
3V2" DS/DD 720k Diskettes (Qty. 10) . . 13.
3V2" DS/HD 1.44Mb Diskettes fO/y 10) 22.
QD 2000 Tape Cartridge 19.

MEMORY

6556 256k DRAMs fJOOnanosecondJ. . . call

5510 1 Meg X 9 SIMMs fSOnanosecondj call

5746 1 Meg Chips (80 nanosecond) .... call

OUR POLICY

• We accept VISA and MASTERCARD only

• No surcharge added for credit card orders,

• Your card is not charged until we ship,

• If we must ship a partial order, we never charge
freight on the shipnnent(s) that complete the order
(in the U,S.).

• No sales tax.

• All U.S. shipments insured; no additional charge.

• APO/F^PO orders shipped 1 st Class Ivlail.

• International orders U.S. $250 minimum.

• Upon receipt and approval, personal and company
checks clear the same day for immediate shipment
of your order

• COD max, $1000, Cash, cashier's check, or money
order

• 120 day limited warranty on all products. *

• To order call us H/londay through Friday 8:00 AM to
1 :00 AM. or Saturday 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM. You can
call our business offices at 603/446-3383 Monday
through Friday 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM,

MECA ... NCP

4603 @Aruirew Tobias' Tax Cut-Hew power
for handling your 1990 taxes. Import data
from Quicken and/or TurboTax, read last
year's Tax Cut data, and print your return-
all with new versatility $49.

SHIPPING

Note: Accounts on net terms pay actual shipping.
Continental US:

• For heavy hardware items such as printers, monitors,
Bernoulli Boxes, etc. pay actual charges. Call for UPS
2nd-Day & Next-Day-Air

• For all other items, add $3 per order to cover UPS
Shipping. For such items, we automatically use
Airborne Express at no extra charge if you are more
than 2 days from us by UPS ground.

Hawaii:

• For monitors, printers, Bernoulli Boxes, computers,
hard drives, and power backups, actual UPS Blue
charge will be added. For all other items, add $3 per
order

Alaska and outside Continental US:

• Call 603/446-7721 for information.

© COPYRIGHT PC CONNECTION, INC, 1990, PC CONNECTION. PCTV AND THE RACCOON CHARACTER(S) ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF PC CONNECTION. INC. MARLOW, NH, Aa OTHER TRADEMARKS REMAIN THE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE COMPANIES,

more pleasant to do?

Intel ... 5 years

khm BWs-FREE Quarterdeck ORAM
and Manifest with any Above Board or
piggyback, now through December 31,
1990! see Intel listing for prices.

708
358

)901

1906
1904
i183
1930
1917
)184
1052
'775
'774

'776

'157

?307
'391

3754
3582

3421
a52
3119
5420
'880
?346
1266
1267
3336
3342
t272
3396
'782
'552

'385

Curtis ... lifetime

Ruby-Plus SPF-2 Plus 65.

Command Center 93.

Glass Filter Plus fspec/^s/zej. . ea. 65.
Datadesl< ... 3 years

Switchboard 175.

Epson ... 1 year

Wfe are an authorized Epson Seivice Center.
FX-850('80co/., 264 cps, 9 pin) . . . call
FX--}050 (136 col., 264 cps, 9 pin). . call
LQ-510f80co/., 180 cps, 24 pin). . . call
LQ-850 (80 col., 264 cps, 24 pin) . . call
LQ-1050 (736 col., 264 cps, 24 pin) call
LX-810f80co/., 180 cps, 9 pin). . . . call

Printer-to-IBIVIcablefefeey 15.

Equity LT-286e Laptop 1995.

Equity LT-386SX Laptop 3069.

Removable Hard Drives for Epson Laptops
20 Meg . . 499. 7777 40 Meg . . 699.
5th Generation ... 1 year
Logical Connection Plus 512k. . . . 599.
IHayes ... 2 years

Smartmodem 2400 349.

Ultra 9600 Modem 899.

I-Iewlett-Pacl(ard ... 1 year

LaserJet III (w/toner) 1699.

LaserJet IIP fw/tonerj 1069.

Intel ... 5 years

2400B MNP Internal Modem .... 199.
2400B Internal Modem 2 (for PS/2) 249.

2400 Baud External Modem 179.

2400EX MNP Modem 229.

9600EX Modem 549.

Inboard 386/PCw/l Meg (W/fee /Am/} 519.

Above Board Plus 51 2k 369.

Above Board Plus I/O 512k 399.

Above Board Plus 8 2 Meg 599.

Above Board Plus 8 I/O 2 Meg . . . 629.

Above Board 2 Plus 512k 469.

Above Board MC 32 Ok 359.

SatisFAXtion 399.

NetPort 489.

MATH COPROCESSORS

80287XL (16 MHz 80286 CPU's). . . 199.

4750 80387SX (16 MHz 80386SX CPU's) $309.

2371 80387 (16 MHz 80386 CPU's) 349.

2372 80387-20 (20 MHz 80386 CPL/'sj 399.
Kensington IMicroware ... 1 year

7899 Expert Mouse ser/a/. . 119. bus.. 129.

Keytronic ... 3 years
4518 101 Plus Keyboard 99.

Kraft ... 5 years

5800 3 button Thunder Joystick 29.

5802 Trackball 59.

Logitech ... limited lifetime

5464 C9 Mouse for PS/2's 69.

7768 C9 Mouse with Windows 149.

5151 HiREZ Mouse (09; 85.

6029 Trackman (rrac/(ba//j ser/a/ 85. bus 89.
4297 ScanMan Plus f/iand scanner) ... 185.

Micron Technology ... 2 years
7595 Intensify 2 Meg Expansion for HP

LaserJet IIP or III 175.

7012 Beyond Memory Board for PS/2

Model 70 (2 /Wegj 265.

Intel ... 5 years

80Z87XL & 80Z87XLTMath CoProcessors-Kuns
up to 50% faster than other 80287 math chips.
The 80287XL works in virtually every 80286-
based PC, and the 80287XLT is made
especially for Compaq LTE/286. . each $ 199.

7597
2897
2898

6007

5997
7878

4799
5085

7512

Microsoft ... lifetime

Microsoft Mouse 89.

Mouse with Paintbrush 109.

Mouse with Windows 3.0 149.

MicroSpeed ... 1 year
PC-TRAC Trackball (includes a free copy
of Welltris) serial . ... 75. bus. . . . 85.
Mouse Systems ... lifetime
Trackball (7 wrniyj seria/ 75. bus 85.

PC Mouse III 99.

NEC ... 2 years

Multisync 2A (VGA /Won/for) 499.

Multisync 3D Monitor 689.

Orchid Technologies ... 4 years

ProDesigner VGA II (7024 x 768). . 299.

MMC

PC Connection 780B

6 Mill Street
Marlow, NH 03456
SALES 603/446-7721 FAX 603/446-7791

Intel ... 5 years

7880 9600EXMorlem-?midts ultra-fast data
communications without sacrificing compat-
ibility. Supprts V.32 & V.42 9600 bps opera-
tion, as well as MNP LeveI/5 and Hayes
compatible 2400/1200/300 bps modes . $549.

PC Power & Cooling ... 1 year

REPLACEMENT POWER SUPPLIES
3202 Turbo Cool 150 (25°- 40° coo/erj . 129.
3200 Silencer 150 (84% no/sereducf/onj 115.

Pacific Data Products ... 1 year
6779 25 Cartridges in One! (/or l;//,///?//D) 275.
7072 25 Cartridges in One! (for LJ///j 349.

Memory upgrade for LaserJet IIP/Ill
7054 7 Meg . . . 149. 7055 2 Meg . . . 199.
7758 3 Meg . . . 279. 77594 Meg . . . 339.

Memory upgrade for LaserJet II
6839 7 Meg ... 179. 6838 2 /Weg . . . 249.
71 58 Pacific Page (PostScript Cartridge for

LaserJet IIP/Ill) 379.

6834 Pacific Page with free 2 Meg

Memory Board (/or LaserJeN/j . . . 379.
7632 Outlines 1 . 209. 7631 Outlines II . 209.

Practical Peripherals ... 5 years

3101 1200 Baud Internal Modem 65.

3100 1200 Baud External Modem (mini) . 77.
3103 2400 Baud Internal Modem 135.

1-800/776-7777

Intel ... 5 years

2346 Inboard 386/PC with Free Samm Ami-
Gives you 80386 processing power, 1 Mb
RAM, and Samna's powerful Windows-
based word processor (regularly at $129).
30 Day Money Back Guarantee $519.

•DEFECTIVE SOFTWARE REPLACED IMMEDIATELY. DEFECTIVE HARDWARE REPLACED OR REPAIRED AT OUR DISCRETION.

JUGGLING
ACTS...

rARE FOR CLOWNS

• Juggjing files, documentation, people and time is
no way to manage a software project. You need to
know who is working on what, which files are being
changed and why. And your team should be moving
ahead on development, not stuck in costly collisions.

MKS RCS - Your Project Manager

MKS RCS (Revision Control System) helps keep your pro-
ject from becoming a juggling act by maintaining a com-
plete history of changes to a file and giving you access to
any of the changes. MKS RCS also automatically saves
crucial descriptive information about each revision.

An advanced user interface and excellent documenta-
tion make MKS RCS extremely easy to use. Or if you
prefer, you can operate from the command line. MKS RCS
can automate every aspect of your project, handle both
binary and text files with ease, provide unlimited branch-
ing and merging capabilities and compress log files to save
valuable disk space.

The Bigger the Better

The more complex your project, the more you need MKS
RCS. In a multi-user environment, eliminate access conflicts

with locking options. Manage and track development to
deliver your project on time, on spec and on budget.

For individual projects, MKS RCS handles the headaches
of recording and retrieving files. Whether you are on a
LAN or an individual PC, MKS RCS will make you
more productive.

Price and Performance Leader

MKS RCS has all the features you will ever need
in a revision control system at a price that will fit
your budget.

MKS RCS for DOS is just $249; for OS/2, SCO or 386
Unix $349. A 5-CPU LAN license for DOS is $995; for
OS/2, SCO or 386 Unix $1,395.

Call MKS for LAN pricing for more than 5 CPUs.

MKS Software Management Tfeam

Reduce the juggling act even more with the MKS Software
Management Tfeam (MKS RCS and MKS Make) . You set
up the rules stating which files must be changed when
other files are altered, and MKS Make automatically keeps
those files in synch.

TO ORDER, CALL:
1-800-265-2797 (continental U.S. only)
1-519-884-2251 (outside continental U.S.)
1-519-884-8861 (FAX)

Full 30 day money back guarantee.

Australia 03-419-0300
03-555-4544

England 0763 244114
0364 53499
071 833 1022

Finland 08-5054536

France 01 47 95 01 07

Netherlands 020 14 24 63
Sweden 0762 704 60
West Germany 0551 -704800
0721 886 664
06126/595-0

MKS. MKS RCS and MKS Make are trademarks ol Monies Kern Systems Inc. UNIX is a trademark ol AT&T

35 King Street North
Waterloo, Ontario
Canada. N2J 2W9

Circle 234 on Reader Service Card

EXPERT ADVICE

THE UNIX /bin ■ David Fiedler

NOT Quite Unix

Tribulations and
treats of using a
$100 Unix clone

Last month I mentioned that I had
received a copy of Coherent, an
operating system for 286- and
386-based machines that was
designed to be very much like Unix.
(The Mark Williams Company sells it
for $99.95.) I had hoped to report that it
would make a good base for an inexpen-
sive UUCP (Unix-to-Unix copy) connec-
tion, as well as a Unix learning base for
people with DOS machines. Alas, that
doesn't seem to be the case yet, at least
for me.

Building My System

Installing Coherent was pretty straight-
forward. There are only four high-den-
sity floppy disks to work with, and if you
have a free partition of at least 10 mega-
bytes on your hard disk, you're ready to
go. I didn't have one, so I had to do some
long-overdue partition rearranging on
my 286 clone. Between some DOS repar-
titioning software I had around and the
tools supplied with Coherent, it wasn't
too bad, even though I'm strictly a novice
when it comes to DOS. I hooked up a
spare terminal and can report that Co-
herent is indeed multiuser and multitask-
ing, with quite decent response.

Coherent comes with some truly re-
markable features, considering it's a
Unix look-alike. Apart from the usual
200 or so basic file-manipulation and
system-maintenance commands, it also
has a driver program for Epson printers,
trof f (with output to the Hewlett-Pack-
ard LaserJet), and software development
programs such as lex, yacc, make, sed,
and awk.

I was very excited that Coherent came
with a set of UUCP programs. (OK, it's a

bit of a misnomer, but if they called it
Coherent-to-Coherent copy program, or
CCCP, it would sound like a Soviet space
vehicle!) UUCP is the means by which
all Unix machines can communicate
with each other via phone lines. A func-
tioning UUCP package, together with the
mail program also included in Coherent,
would give you access to the worldwide
UUCP network.

So, my scheme was to first hook up
Coherent via a direct-wired UUCP con-
nection (far faster and easier, generally,
than attempting to hook up a modem) to
my regular Unix machine and then
download programs to Coherent and at-
tempt to recompile them.

Unfortunately, I was unable to get Co-
herent to talk to Unix. It wouldn't dial
out at all, whether the port was enabled
or not. The dial-in attempts from the
Unix machine showed that Coherent was
indeed answering with the expected
prompts. However, once past the pass-

word check. Coherent would respond
with an error message and return a LOG-
IN FAILED status message to the Unix
connection.

I called the Mark Williams Com-
pany's technical-support line and talked
to someone who went through a number
of likely reasons for the failure. He also
came up with a few suggestions that
didn't seem to bear on this situation at all
(for instance, removing a UUCP refer-
ence in the / etc / domains file). Togeth-
er, we eventually concluded that there
was no reason why it shouldn't be work-
ing; it just wasn't.

Hard Aport

I then tried porting the xcomm package
to Coherent, in response to a query from
a reader about a method of dialing out
that was simpler than using the Kermit
utility provided in Coherent. This re-
vealed that some signals in Unix System
V that are needed for compiling xcomm

ILLUSTRATION: UNDA BLECK © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 119

THE UNIX /bin

ITEMS DISCUSSED

C(dierent $99.95

Mark Williams Company
60 Revere Dr.
Northbrook, IL 60062
(800) 627-5967
(708) 291-6700
Inquiry 1015.

(which is the only communications pro-
gram I have that's small enough to fit
into Coherent 's 64K-byte space) are not
implemented in Coherent.

Just for testing purposes, I commented
out all references to these signals. Unfor-
tunately, Coherent was unable to put the
object modules together. The error mes-
sage said that the loader couldn't relocate
modules compiled for separate I/D (in-
struction and data) space, yet I hadn't
compiled or tried to load with that option
(nor could I find it in the manual). Using
the file command showed that all the
object modules had properly compiled as
relocatable code. Very strange.

So how did I get the xcomm source
files onto Coherent? Coherent has an all-

purpose utility called dos, which does
everything from formatting DOS disks to
file transfer between Coherent and DOS.
In fact, my only complaint with that com-
mand is that there are too many options,
making it too easy to delete files or for-
mat a disk when you don't intend to.

I did have a little problem figuring out
how to address the DOS floppy disk
drive, since none of the references listed
under the dos command gives the infor-
mation. After searching likely places, I
finally discovered that the information is
under the entry "fd" in the manual,
where I discovered by trial and error that
a low-density disk is called /dev/f9a0
and a high-density disk is called /dev/
fhaO. The default is to access the DOS
partition on the hard disk.

Think Small

A word about the 64K-byte limit is also
in order. This was a familiar problem
back in the early days of Unix, when
Unix was almost always implemented on
one of Digital's PDP-11 computers. All
programs had to fit into just 64K bytes of
memory, even when there was 256K
bytes on the machine. The improved

PDP- 11/70 model, a large minicomput-
er, allowed programs to have 64K bytes
of executable instruction code and 64K
bytes of static and dynamic data space,
which allowed you to write larger pro-
grams.

Coherent 's compiler, written to work
on both the 386 and the smaller 286, is
limited to "small model" compilation,
and therefore also bound by the 64K-byte
limit for programs. Having studied much
of the 1000-plus-page Coherent manual
and all the promotional literature, I could
find only a single sentence that acknowl-
edged this, and that was buried in a note
under the heading "Data Formats,"
rather than in any information about the
compiler or even the loader. Unless, of
course, you take the company's "small is
beautiful" motto literally.

Because BYTE has published its Unix
benchmarks with the intention of mak-
ing them portable, I then decided to try
them. I was rewarded to see that many of
the programs compiled cleanly (some
were missing references to time con-
stants, though).

Unfortunately, the benchmarks did
not run as delivered, because the shell

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120 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 145 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 146)

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Circle 98 on Reader Service Card

THE UNIX /bin

driver program makes heavy use of the
Bourne shell's keyword parameters,
which apparently are not implemented in
Coherent. In that sense, it's a bit mis-
leading of the Mark Williams Company
to refer to its shell as a "Bourne shell,"
since that implies that its shell is either
compatible with, or a derivative of, the
standard Unix shell (written by Steve
Bourne) .

By looking around the Mark Williams
conference on BIX (mwc/coherent), I've
found that I'm having a bit more trouble
than some other folks. Several people
have gotten their UUCP running and are
all ready to set up a Usenet node. Others
are working on ways of compiling csh,
vi, and similar popular Unix programs.
Clearly, just because I've run into a snag
or two doesn't mean it can't be done.

I also learned from BIX that the Mark
Williams Company is planning a virtual-
memory capability for the 286 version of
Coherent, plus a full-featured 386 ver-
sion, for next year. Both would presum-
ably get rid of the 64K-byte limit im-
posed by the small-model compiler.

At this point, I'm at a bit of a stand-
still. If your intention in buying Coherent

is to use it for creating a UUCP or Usenet
node and downloading public domain
programs for compilation and use, or for
developing programs to be used on true
Unix or Xenix systems, then Coherent's
current compiler limitations, slightly
nonstandard features, and the other
problems I've experienced might give
you pause.

On the other hand, if you want a Unix--
like development and learning system for
less than $100 that supports multiple
users, can be coresident with a DOS in-
stallation, and can transfer text files to
and from DOS floppy disks and hard disk
partitions, I don't see how you can go
wrong with Coherent.

A Personal Note

My offer to send out the list of public-ac-
cess Unix systems (see "Free Software!"
in the June BYTE) was, to put it mildly,
very well received. I had no idea that so
many Unix-literate people read BYTE,
let alone my column. I have my wife Su-
san to thank for most of the envelope
stuffing and sealing.

Enough of you wrote with interest
about my new publication, Unix Video

Quarterly, that this is a good time to talk
briefly about it here. I started Unix Video
Quarterly as an alternative to traditional
industry newsletters, partly because of
my experience in video and film produc-
tion. Certainly, the move toward Unix
graphics software and user interfaces
was a factor; imagine trying to describe
how OSF/Motif differs from Open Look
by using text alone! I also realized that
sometimes you have to experience things
to totally understand them, and video
technology is the closest thing to actually
being on the scene. If you want to know
more about Unix Video Quarterly, con-
tact me at P.O. Box 220, Rescue, CA
95672, (800) 843-8649, or on BIX as
"fiedler." ■

David Fiedler is executive producer of
Unix Video Quarterly and coauthor of
the book Unix System Administration.
He has helped start several Unix-related
publications. You can reach him on BIX
as "fiedler. "

Your questions and comments are wel-
come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One
Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH
03458.

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Circle 398 on Reader Service Card

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An OS/2 device-driver
specialist talks shop

EXPERT ADVICE

BEYOND DOS: WINDOWS AND OS/2 ■ Steve Mastrianni

TALES FROM

THE Trenches

In January of 1989, I was giving a
presentation on OS/2 to representa-
tives of a prospective client. They
had a DOS-based system for data
acquisition that lacked the ability to si-
multaneously gather and process data.
They had done their homework and con-
cluded that OS/2 could do the job, but
they weren't convinced that Unix could
not do the job as well.

It was a perfect application for OS/2.
The system had to monitor serial-bus
transactions and voltage levels in real
time, and it had to act on certain condi-
tions immediately. This quickly ruled
out Unix, which lacks a preemptive,
time-critical kernel.

I gave an upbeat presentation, and
everything was going well until one of
the senior engineers asked an obvious
question: "Of course, we can get device
drivers for our special hardware, right?"
I did some hand-waving and went on to
other topics, promising I'd get back to
them regarding the drivers.

When I called the various hardware
vendors, I got the same answer every
time. "Sorry, we only have DOS drivers.
We'd like to support OS/2, but we don't
have anyone who knows how to write
them. We understand they are extremely
hard to write, and only a few customers
have asked for them anyway. " I decided
to find out why. Why should writing a
device driver for OS/2 be so difficult?

I packed my bags and headed out to
Microsoft University for the OS/2 Driver
Writing course. The class ran for one
week, and it was one of the most intense I
have ever attended.

Device-Driver Basics

When an OS/2 application needs to per-
form I/O, it makes an I/O request call to

the kernel. The kernel verifies the re-
quest, translates it into a driver request
packet, and calls the device driver for
service. The driver handles all the hard-
ware details: I/O addressing, timing,
register setup, interrupt handling, and
error checking. When the device re-
sponds, the driver massages the data into
a format recognizable by the application,
sends back the data (or a status message),
and notifies the kernel that the request is
complete.

If it can't handle the request right
away, the driver may either block the re-
questing thread or return a "request not
done" to the kernel. Either way, the
driver relinquishes the CPU and lets
other threads run. If there's an error, the
driver relays it to the kernel along with a
"request complete" status.

What makes OS/2 drivers unique is
the need to operate in both real mode and
protected mode. Addresses computed in
real mode are not valid if the system

switches to protected mode, and vice
versa. The driver has to handle such
mode switches on the fly. Understanding
this bimodal operation is the key to writ-
ing OS/2 1.x drivers. Several Device
Helper (DevHlp) routines support bi-
modal operation, but learning how to or-
ganize them properly can be harrowing.

Jumping into the Deep End

When I got back from Microsoft Univer-
sity, I was anxious to plunge into my first
driver. I ordered the device-driver devel-
opment kit (DDK) from Microsoft,
which comes with the all-important ker-
nel debugger. KDB is a replacement ker-
nel that, among other things, has knowl-
edge of driver structures. For instance,
to display a request packet, you can use
the command .d req es:bx. KDB for-
mats the data and displays it in request
packet form. Don't even think about
writing an OS/2 driver without this tool!
I began with a simple, do-nothing

ILLUSTRATION: TOM CENTOLA © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 127

BEYOND DOS

driver based on examples given in the
course. It worked perfectly. Next, I tack-
led the real project. My client needed a
driver for an eight-channel A/D board.
The board used an intelligent interrupt-
driven controller and could do DMA
transfers. I fumbled furiously through
my student documentation for examples
of how to implement such a driver and
broke out in a cold sweat. There were no
examples of interrupt handlers, no exam-
ples of DMA operation, and no examples
of user-defined I/O control functions.

Microsoft, when I called for help, re-
ferred me to Compaq (I'm using its ver-
sion of OS/2). Compaq referred me back
to Microsoft. I searched the computer
bookstores to no avail. Finally, I just
rolled up my sleeves and began to exper-
iment.

The driver's job is simple — in princi-
ple. It has to manage requests from the
kernel and return results to the applica-
tion. An OS/2 driver receives two kinds
of requests: Some can be completed im-
mediately, and some can't. Requests
come in by way of a standard data struc-
ture called a request packet. The kernel
sends the driver a bimodal pointer to the
request packet. Since the driver must op-
erate in real mode or protected mode, the
bimodal pointer ensures that the request
packet will be accessible in either mode.

When a request can't be handled right
away (e.g. , in the case of a disk seek), the
driver (by means of a set of DevHlp rou-
tines) places it in a queue. Disk drivers
can choose to sort pending requests for
disk seeks in sector order, to minimize
seek time.

OS/2's threaded architecture assigns
one extra responsibility to the device
driver. When a driver can't handle a re-
quest right away, it blocks the requesting
thread; when it completes the request, it
unblocks the thread.

Tools for Driver Development

The DDK comes with a three-ring binder
containing driver structures, descrip-
tions of the DevHlp routines, and in-
structions for using the KDB. I found
only the first 40 or so pages useful. The
book does describe the DevHlp routines
in detail, but it contains no examples of
working drivers.

I write all my device drivers, includ-
ing interrupt handlers, in Microsoft C
6.0 with maximum optimization. Don't
waste your time writing your driver in as-
sembly. Writing a device driver in C
takes about half the time it would take to
write the same driver in assembly, and
the driver will work just as well.

Another useful tool is DDC.LIB,

which is a C-callable device-driver li-
brary from PentaSoft (17541 Stone Ave.
N, Seattle, WA 98133, (206) 546-0470).
Probably the most important function in
DDC.LIB is Transfer, which transfers
data between the driver and applications
and accounts for mode switching during
the transfer. It handles transfer of data
from virtual memory to physical mem-
ory, physical to virtual, virtual to vir-
tual, and physical to physical. If you're
serious about OS/2 driver development,
this library is a must.

Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Anyone who has written drivers for other
multitasking operating systems (e.g.,
Unix or VMS) will have a good founda-
tion for OS/2 driver development. Micro-
soft estimates that it takes an experi-
enced C programmer who has attended
the Microsoft University OS/2 Driver
Writing course four to six months to
write his or her first OS/2 driver. Subse-
quent drivers should take two to four
months. Disk drivers are significantly
more complex and may take longer.

My first driver took roughly three
months to write. The next one took only
two months, and I was able to write a few
simple drivers in a week or so, so it does
get easier with practice.

Although OS/2 device drivers are be-
coming more common nowadays, the sit-
uation remains fairly grim. Most of them
are for specialized hardware and aren't
readily available. What's needed are
standard, general-purpose drivers that
can be adapted to more generic hard-
ware. For instance, I would like to see an
OS/2 driver for a CD-ROM drive, fax
card, or tape drive, yet none are avail-
able. Why not? There are certainly more
customers now who need OS/2 drivers.
Without them, the operating system of
choice may not be OS/2.

OS/2 2.0 won't make the task of writ-
ing device drivers any easier. True, ver-
sion 2.0 will run DOS applications in
protected mode, so the driver won't have
to concern itself with bimodal operation.
But the driver architecture for DOS pro-
grams will change radically. DOS pro-
grams will now call a Virtual Device
Driver instead of accessing the device
hardware directly. The VDD will mas-
sage the request and send it to a Physical
Device Driver. The PDD will perform
the low-level hardware communication
with the device and send the data back to
the VDD.

The VDD interface is new, while the
PDD is nothing more than an OS/2 1.x
bimodal driver with the real-mode sec-
tions removed. The VDD will emulate

the BIOS and other interrupt functions,
letting a DOS application assume it is
talking directly with the device when it is
actually communicating with the VDD.
Protected-mode applications will con-
tinue to call OS/2 drivers, as in version
1.x, but can use 0:32 ("flat model")
addressing.

In June, Microsoft announced a new
device-driver architecture for mass stor-
age devices called the layered device-
driver architecture (LADDR). Microsoft
claims that LADDR can reduce by 90
percent the time to develop an OS/2 mass
storage device driver. I hope this is true,
but based on what I've seen so far, I
wouldn't bet the farm on it.

A new DDK will come with standard
driver code, so the developer need only
add the code specific to the device itself
to implement a fully functional driver. I
haven't seen the new DDK yet, so I can't
verify Microsoft's claims. At the time of
this writing, Microsoft still had no firm
release date for the LADDR kit. Non-
mass storage drivers will continue to be
written using conventional methods.

Neither IBM nor Microsoft has done
enough to help the people trying to pro-
duce the drivers that OS/2 so desperately
needs. The DDK upgrade from version
1.1 to 1.2 is way behind schedule, and
the NDDK, used to develop network card
drivers for the Extended Edition, is also
late. The version 1 . 1 DDK does not work
with PS/2 machines, so drivers must be
developed on Industry Standard Archi-
tecture bus systems.

Information is still sketchy and incom-
plete. Although more books have ap-
peared, none show examples of device
drivers written in C. Most of the avail-
able documentation describes the Dev-
Hlp routines and their calling sequences,
but not how to organize them into an ac-
tual driver.

What is needed is a driver writer's
guide to take the mystery out of OS/2
driver writing. The guide should contain
examples of actual drivers written in C,
not scattered code fragments in assem-
bly. It should also contain a list of helpful
functions to aid in driver coding and de-
bugging. Until such information be-
comes available, device drivers will re-
main the Achilles' heel of OS/2. ■

Steve Mastrianni is an independent con-
sultant in South Windsor, Connecticut,
who specializes in OS/2 device drivers.
He can be reached on BIXc/o "editors. "

Your questions and comments are wel-
come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One
Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH
03458.

128 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

After everythiiig
you've heard

about^\tadows
Conputiiig,
there are om^
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already available.

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Short Takes

BYTE editors' hands-on views of new and developing products

Ventura Publisher,
Macintosh Edition 1 .0

ScanMan 256
NewWave 3.0

WinSleuth

WordPerfect Rhymer

(2a<3

i.ic SE>

Ventura Meets the Mac

If you work in a mixed-
machine environment in
which some people are using
Ventura PubHsher on their
PCs, the arrival of Ventura
Publisher, Macintosh Edi-
tion 1.0, is good news.

Ventura Mac is a straight-
forward port of the version
running under Windows,
which makes jumping be-
tween systems easy; if you've
learned one, you've basically
learned the other, and that's
what platform hopping is all
about. I was able to take a
diverse bunch of Ventura files
that the BYTE Lab staff had
generated on DOS machines,
move them to the Mac (using
the BYTE LAN and LapLinkX
and open them up, with their
styles and formats intact. This
was painless. The fact that you
can easily swap Ventura-pub-
lished documents between PCs
and Macs is one of the great-
est advantages of this program.
Only Aldus PageMaker 3.0
currently provides this capa-
bility.

Working in a diverse envi-
ronment is a Ventura forte.
Besides letting you swap be-
tween Macs and PCs, this
program will pull in text from
most word processors you're
likely to run across and graph-

ics from most drawing or
painting programs.

Ventura is also good at
working with long documents.
You can line up a string of text
files, and the program will run
them from page to page, al-
most automatically, setting up
the extra pages as needed.
Ventura is built for this kind
of work. With its cross-refer-
encing and indexing capabili-
ties, it's essentially a book-
oriented page composer.

For doing a long but
straightforward publication —
no fancy layouts, few graph-
ics — Ventura is a good choice.
But for documents with a snaz-
zier look, a more complex
page structure, and heavy on
the graphics, Ventura is — and
here we walk into the shadowy
land of subjectivity — hard to
work with. Maybe I've been
using PageMaker too long, but

I find it far more flexible for
page design. Its approach,
descended from the cut-and-
paste world of the composing
room, feels right. Ventura is
more geometrical. Like some
other popular programs, Ven-
tura uses frames. Everything
you do has to be within a frame
(a rectangular area). You can
expand and shrink these
frames, and you can move
them around on the page eas-
ily enough, but we're still talk-
ing rectangles. I find this con-
fining.

While PageMaker is an
excellent tool for designing
layouts, letting you freely
move things around and
change widths, lengths, and
shapes of columns, Ventura is
more of a layout fulfillment
program. I'd recommend
sketching your page design on
paper first.

THE FACTS

Ventura Publisher,

6.0.2, and a hard disk

Macintosh Edition 1.0

drive.

S795

Ventura Software

Requirements:

15175 Innovation Dr.

Mac with 2 MB of RAM,

San Dieao, CA 92128

System 6.0.2, Finder

(619) 673-7524

Inquiry 1160.

Ventura does beat the pants
off PageMaker in a couple of
things, particularly working
with tabular material. Setting
up a table with PageMaker
almost hurts. Ventura has a
wonderful dialog box in which
you specify how many rows
and columns you want; you hit
a button, and there it is — a nice
grid that you can jump around
in, from cell to cell, using
pointer or cursor keys. The
program also excels at setting
up equations, which can be a
typesetter's nightmare.

Another of Ventura Mac's
strengths is in stylizing the text
on the page. The program will
let you assign a style (e.g., type
of font or character size) to
ever>' paragraph. You can keep
these different styles in a cata-
log ot sorts. This collection of
style sheets can also include
specifications for the paae it-
self.

There's not room here to
cover all the capabilities of
Ventura. For a better look at
this and other desktop publish-
ing packages, see "Is the Type-
setter Obsolete?" in the Octo-
ber BYTE. And before you
buy, take them all for a test
drive.

Page-layout software, like
any other program that com-
bines functionality and aes-
thetics, is a highly subjective
matter. What one person finds
excellent is execrable to some-
one else. What one user finds
intuitive is arcane to another.
I know totally reasonable
people who swear by Quark
XPress, and professional
graphics designers who con-
coct fine-looking materials
with Ventura. Although I
wouldn't want to switch from
PageMaker to Ventura, I can't
say it's not right for you. This
is a good program that does
what it's designed to do. The
question is: Does it do what
you want to do?

— D. Barker

132 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

Logitech Puts
Photo-Realism
in Windows

The ScanMan 256 is a 256-
gray-level , scanner that
can scan at up to 400 dots per
inch. It is similar in appearance
to previous Logitech scanners
but has a number of functional
improvements. The scanner
itself is in a head a little over 5
inches wide. Below this is the
body of the scanner, which you
hold to move it. The body has
a number of switches that you
use to set the various scanner
modes. The ScanMan 256 also
has an indicator light that
shows if a scan is being made
at the right speed.

The ScanMan 256 is de-
signed to be used in a Win-
dows 3.0 environment. It
comes with a gray-scale scan-
ning and editing package
called Ansel, which controls
the scanner directly from
within Windows 3.0 and pro-
vides some easy-to-use tools
for editing. Logitech has pro-
vided a simple DOS Scan util-
ity that lets you scan, view, and
save images without entering
Windows 3.0 or using Ansel.
However, it isn' t as flexible or
as easy to use as Ansel, and it
doesn't include editing tools.
Installing the scanner and

THE FACTS

ScanMan 256

$499

Requirements:

IBM PC or compatible

running Windows 3.0.

software is easy. Logitech has
set the defaults to match the
most likely free configura-
tions. All I had to do was plug
the scanner board in my sys-
tem, plug in the scanner, install
the software using the supplied

Logitech, Inc.
6505 Kaiser Dr.
Fremont. CA 94555
(415) 795-8500
Inquiry 1161.

Install program, and start scan-
ning. Setting up the scanner in
any of its different modes is
done simply by setting the
switches. The controlling soft-
ware reads these automatically
and adjusts accordingly.

Choosing the right setting
for a scan is not a simple mat-
ter. With the range of options
available, it becomes impor-
tant to make a careful choice.
The problem lies in the size of
the image files created at high
resolutions with large numbers
of gray scales. A simple 2- by
2-inch image takes up almost
2 megabytes at 300 dpi with
256 gray scales. This taxes the
memory of the system consid-
erably. Logitech has devised
its own system for paging im-
age data to and from disk to
counteract this, but the bottom
line is that if you want to scan
images at 300 or 400 dpi with
256 gray scales, youTl need a
lot of memory. What setting
you choose also depends on
whether you want to use line
art, perform optical character
recognition, or have true gray-
scale images.

I scanned a range of actual
photographs and some from
magazines, and the quahty of
the results was extremely good
at all levels. Overall, I found
the ScanMan 256 an extremely
powerful and flexible scanner.
It is useful for scanning small
documents and all kinds of
images. But I would recom-
mend that you make sure that
your system can deal with the
kind of large files that a scan-
ner this powerful can create.
— Owen Linderholm

Hewlett-Packard's Newest Wave for Windows

One of the most interest-
ing — and potentially
most important — appUcations
to appear for Microsoft Win-
dows 3.0 is an updated version
of Hewlett-Packard's New-
Wave environment. There are
two ways of looking at this
program: as a set of reasona-
bly priced utilities for Win-
dows, or as a glimpse of what
most graphical user interfaces

(GUIs) will be like in the fu-
ture.

This latest version of
NewWave introduces an
Agent capability, which is
essentially a powerful key-
board macro facility. To per-
form a given task, all you need
to do is select that task's icon
and drop it on the Agent icon,
which looks remarkably like
Patrick McGoohan in the

■"Secret Agent" TV show. One
of the nice things about this
macro facility is its ability to
do tasks on a routine basis
(e.g.. every hour, day, or
week).

Another important feature
of this new version is network
support, which lets users share
NewWave features.

Perhaps the most important
feature of NewWave — and the

hardest to describe adequately
in a simple features list — is its
support of objects.

NewWave has no data files
as such. There are only objects,
which are data files that have
been linked to a NewWave
application. One important
type of object is a folder,
which functions much hke a
Macintosh folder. It can con-
tain other objects, and you

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 133

SHORT TAKES

organize your desktop, or
Office, as NewWave refers to
it.

There are also no applica-
tions as such. What look like
applications are really tools —
specialized folders that store,
print, or delete the objects
dropped onto them.

Creating a new data file in
NewWave involves an un-
usual process. For example, in
Windows, you start a new
spreadsheet data file by first
clicking on the Excel icon and
opening a new file. In New-
Wave, you instead select the
menu command Create a New
Object. A dialog box then asks
you what type of object you
want to create. You could then
select a Lotus 1-2-3 object and
give it a name. An icon for a
Lotus object would then be
displayed on the NewWave
Office workspace. When you
click on this application,
NewWave will automatically
load 1-2-3 and launch you into
the data file you selected.

The most important capabil-
ity of NewWave's objects is
their ability to incorporate
other objects. Unfortunately,
only those objects that are
linked with a small number of
true NewWave applications
have this capability. For ex-
ample, NewWave Write, the

THE FACTS

NewWave 3.0

$195

Requirements:
IBM AT or compatible
with a hard disk drive, a
mouse, and Windows 3.0.

NewWave version of the
simple Windows Write word
processor, can incorporate 1-
2-3 objects, but 1-2-3 objects
cannot incorporate other ob-
jects.

Since NewWave Write has
the capability to incorporate

Hewlett-Packard
Santa Clara Information
Systems Division
3410 Central Expy.
Santa Clara, CA 9505 1
(408) 749-9500
Inquiry 1162.

other objects, it is actually a
fairly impressive word proces-
sor. In a NewWave Write
document, you can insert
tables from 1-2-3, graphics
from HP"s optional DOS-
based graphics programs, and
simple annotations. And as

more object types appear
(made possible by new New-
Wave applications), New-
Wave Write will continue to
acquire new capabilities.

tfnfortunately, there's a
dark side to NewWave. For
one thing, the program is huge.
It takes up about 7 megabytes
of disk space and requires
quite a long time to install.

NewWave also suffers from
a lack of applications. Only a
handful of programs now work
well with it. Some sorely
needed applications that HP
would do well to add are
NewWave versions of Win-
dows Paintbrush or Terminal.

In some cases, the program
could be markedly improved
by simple additions. For ex-
ample, you can incorporate 1-
2-3 tables into NewWave
Write documents, but you can-
not change the font that the
tables appear in. If you could
change the font, NewWave
could function as a nice com-
plementary program for 1-2-3.

NewWave is a very interest-
ing program, and it's available
at an affordable piice. It is
probably true that someday all
GUIs will be hke it. But it
needs a few more applications
before it becomes a required
day-to-day business tool.

— Rich Malloy

Peeking Through Windows

The original System Sleuth
for DOS was a diagnostics
package that snooped around
your PC and told you all sorts
of goodies about its configu-
ration, including the micropro-
cessor type, how much and
what kind of memory was
available, and the results of
power-on self tests (POSTs).
It also fished out a lot of eso-
teric but important data about
I/O cards, hard disk drive par-
titions, device drivers, and
TSR programs.

Moving the package to the
Windows 3.0 environment,
Dariana Technology Group
confronted an interesting di-
lemma: When a PC runs in
protected mode instead of real

mode, a lot of nuts-and-bolts
information about the com-
puter becomes invisible or ir-
relevant. So what's left to di-
agnose?

Plenty, as it turns out.
Dariana" s new WinSIeuth still
delivers pages of data that can
help you summarize your
system's configuration, re-
solve board conflicts, or iden-
tify nagging software incom-
patibilities. Even without its
diagnostic capabilities, the
package might be indispens-
able for system administrators,
who could print out and file a
complete report about every
system in their facility.

Gone from WinSIeuth —
when it is running in Windows

standard or 386 enhanced
modes — is the low-level data
about memory allocation, disk
drive partitions, and device
drivers, since these are handled
by Windows. If the package is
run in Windows' real mode,
however, more low-level in-
formation is provided, al-
though some of it isn't relevant
to the behavior of the system
in protected mode.

What is gained in Win-
Sleuth — aside from an attrac-
tive and very simple graphical
user interface — is specific in-
formation about the Windows
environment, including how it
has allocated available mem-
ory, which drivers it is using
to talk to your peripherals, and

how it is managing tasks. The
new release also adds a file
viewer for peering into your
hard disk and a new module
for analyzing network connec-
tions.

The rest of the package is
organized similarly to the DOS
version, as a series of modules
addressing different subsys-
tems: microprocessor, POSTs,
hard disk drive, video/display,
RAM. I/O cards, printer, and
DOS.

For example, the General
Information section tells you
what CPU you are using (al-
though not the clock speed), if
you have a math coprocessor,
and how many and what kind
of I/O ports and storage

134 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1 990

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The precise routines assume responsibilit}- for all hardware,
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The Products That Protect Your Revenues

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Customized packages, modular packages

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Non-operating system specific protection based on RS232C

communications for minicomputers, workstations, etc.

In EUROPE:

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Neuilly Sur-Seine FRANCE Tel: 33-1-47-38-21-21 Fax: 33-1-46-24-76-91
For distributors in:

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• IRELAND, TMC (02 1 87 37 1 1) • GERMAN^ Microphar Deutschland (06223 737 30)

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In the U.S., flie A.MERICAS & the PACIFIC:
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FOR A DEMONSTRATION PACKAGE OR ADDITIONAL *Macinio5h is a registered tradernarit of AppJe Computer. Inc.

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For Europe, circle 291 on Reader Service Card For Americas & Pacific, circle 292 on Reader Service Card

SHORT TAKES

peripherals are installed.

The modules affected by the
difference between Windows
modes include hard disk drive,
DOS, and RAM. The hard disk
drive module always tells you
how many sectors and file al-
location tables you have, but
in real mode you can also see
partition information. In real
mode, the DOS module shows
you device drivers and TSR
programs. The RAM module,
in 386 enhanced mode, gives
you extensive information on
memory allocation by the
DOS Protected Mode Interface
memory manager.

Perhaps the most useful
features of WinSleuth are its
help system and Windows
Tune-Up module. The on-line
help is like a short course on
the inner workings of PCs and

Files Help Modules

ft

Tune

REM- MODE SESMEHT 4T CtOO
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CflOaOOOO to C7FF:00CF ■ IH USE ■
C80&0000 (o C8FF OOCf - AVAIUBLE
CCOO 0000 10 CFFFOOOF -AVAILABLE

REAL MODE SEGMENT AI POOO
OOOOOOOO 10 D3FF0OCf - AVAILABLE
0400:0000 10 D7FF OOOF - AVAILABLE
D3OO0O00 10 DBFECeCP - AVAILABLE
DCOO COB 10 DFfF;0O0F -AVAILABLE

REAL MODESEGMENTATEOOO
ECOa00001oE3FF000F -AVAIIABIE
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EEDO 0000 10 EBfF OOOF - IH USE -

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FC0O0000toFFFF00(]F - IH USE -Cowtighl Id 13S5.198&Ftic«fiw Techrwto^e: Ltd

Windows; I recommend work-
ing your way through each
topic. And if you need advice
on getting the best perfor-

mance out of your system
under Windows, run the Tune-
Up for suggestions that range
from adding more RAM, to

Could WordPerfect Rhymer Be Finer?

WordPerfect Corp. has
come up with a truly
unique writer's helper in
WordPerfect Rhymer, a

93,000-word American En-
glish rhyming dictionary.

Rhymer is a tool for the
student of the sound of lan-
guage. A TSR program requir-
rng"34K bytes'of RAM,
Rhymer searches for a variety
of rhymes and phonetic pat-
terns. It works with any DOS
word processor.

Being a sucker for a good
rhyme, I loaded Rhymer onto
my hard disk. The program
took up a mere half-megabyte
of storage space, which was
good news. The program
worked fine with my word
processor and my other TSR
dictionary, neither of which
carries the WordPerfect label.

To see whether Rhymer
could determine which words
have multiple pronunciadons,
I requested a triple rhyme for
the word interested. The re-
sults were positive. Rhymer
asked me to select between the
pronunciations "in-tu-rus-ted"
and "in-trus-tud" before begin-
ning its rhyme search.

Although Rhymer isn't
designed for regional U.S.

dialects, it does include a pho-
netic finder to help you tailor
your rhyme search to suit your
speech patterns. This feature
includes a phonetic chart —

THE FACTS

WordPerfect Rhymer

$79

Requirements:

IBM PC or compatible.

similar to a pronunciation key
in the front of a dictionary —
that lists a variety of sounds,
including vowels, stops, frica-
tives, affricates, liquids, and

WordPerfect Corp,
1555 North
Technology Way
Orem, uf 84057
(801) 225-5000
Inquiry 1164.

Pan's Pipes
Gondolier
Silver Haraonies
Return to the Danube
Patterns
ftutuRn Menories
Paris at Higiit
FoUou the Leader
Secrets

Synphony Strings
Black Forest Suiwer
Punting on the Hianes

- night Ending fihyne

fl.

downright

B.

duight

C. dynanite

p.

ebonite

E.

electrolyte

F. erenite

G.

erudite

H.

excite

I. expedite

J.

extradite

K.

eyebright

L. eyesight

tl.

fahreiiheit

N.

fanlight

0. favorite

P.

ferrite

Q.

fight

R. finite

S.

firelight

I.

fistfight

U. flashlight

U.

fleabite

U.

flight

X. floodlight

Press Enter for nore uords

Press a letter to select a uord 3B749 Uords Searched 72 Uords Found

THE FACTS

WinSleuth

$149; $60 upgrade for
System Sleuth owners

Requirements:

IBM PC or compatible

with Windows 3.0.

Dariana Technology

Group, Inc.

6945 Hermosa Cir.

Buena Park, CA 90620

(714)994-7400

Inquiry 1163.

optimizing your hard disk
drive, to removing conflicting
extended memory managers.

— Andy Reinhardt

glides. If your pronunciation of
the word car sounds more like
"cah," for example, you can
instruct Rhymer to search for
words with the <aw> vowel
sound. And you can control the
scope of your rhyme hunt by
limiting the number of syl-
lables and letters you want the
program to search for.

I had just one major com-
plaint about Rhymer: The
program displays only 24
rhymes at once. Once you hit
Enter to see additional rhymes,
you can't go back to review the
previous list. Since many
words have dozens of rhymes,
it would be helpful to be able
to page through an entire list —
much as you page through a
word processing document.
You can configure Rhymer to
save all rhymes in a DOS text
file, however, but you must
first exit the program to view
the list.

No doubt someone will
eventually include a rhyming
utility with a spelling/grammar
checker program, or perhaps
with an on-line dictionary, but
until then. Rhymer is good
enough for the rhymin" fool in
all of us. ■

— Jeff Bertolucci

136 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

The Cure
For The
Common
Clone.

Introducing The BRICK

386SX™ power, a 44-212 MB HD, 1-8 MB RAM, 1024 x 768,
with a 2,400bps modem . . . and it fits in half a briefcase!

Now you don't have to
choose between the power
of a desktop and the
portability of a laptop. The
Brick™ starts a whole new
era of flexibility and conve-
nience.

For some, the
Brick is the perfect
desktop PC. It has
enough power, storage
and graphics capabili
ties to run the
most demand-
ing applica-
tions. It's the

first desktop PC
that's quiet
enough, small
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Circle 127 on Reader Service Card

If you think
the HP LaserJet EI is great,

A STRO NOMY IS n Fll A

LOOiONCi^^

THE HmscH KPOfa Of the swes

B. no. 4.

SIAR SHORTS

: ftaported byThe Star

Every tiav billions of
duti paiTicl«t enter in-
to Earth'* stmo»pfiefe.

' Now Kieniim are

'. vn>rltif>fl 10 maice me-

; feif Cajrt S*» the Grsai Wall from tha Moon!

Sreal Wall of Cnir^a r

from It* Moon. Or from t

Earth orbit. Or even t

from Mat». CertBinlv e

ii. it's ditricuit 8'
tee familiar objects;
I D'anet's iwift mo-

n pen- Mon an planetar/ eiff/osions insiOe-

Vaylgtr't Last Pictun SfiCM:

Whan Vaytg*' 2 wji Ituncntd 12 years sgo. trfio

NO BLACK HOLES?

Sciertisi* are siiii jnaDle to eonfimi
the existence of even a single black hole,
despite widespread bei«f that such
things should exist. Tracking down these
invisible objects isn't easy, because they
can on!y Be studied inOirectly by the
effects ifvey f\ave on ihelf sunoundings.
T>iere are several types ol places [hat

tconrifUtd on HP* 31

MIRROR. MIRROR

It s a Chore, but all reflecting tele-
scopes reouire cleaning their retlecttve
mirrors- Eventually, the aluminum coat-
mg on their mirrors Deteriorates and
neeO) 'epiacing. For large instrunients,
ine process requires removing the lele-
Icontinuta en ptirt SI

LONGUST NETWORK

INTEGRATION PROJECT

CHAINREACnON

AnnualSales

InTtiousands

Antiinaiter BoUled

Meiai^rganic diemiitr; bridges the tap besween ca^anic a.nd irxii-
gacic It tin lead 10 imponani new products ifor eiacifJe,

tsisnn antideies'. A chelate, sudi as EDTA since leontainlng tarbsn.
hydrogen, oaygen and niBogen atonis] can eiu.round ions or melaJs
1. fconJiitiitti not pega

It was alnuKtexaetly three yeansgotbst aceramic aiateiial that }

SjprnocdBctsahdveliqBidnjtrogea temperatun wasdiscocered. I

Within days of tbe diseoniT.elcetntics, power transmissian. and i

l..ansptnatianwere)wingredefinedinei^ecyone'simagination. Yet i

stipeKonductinty was tax anew pheaonanion. Ihe effed teas ftrst j

obtcrved in mercury in 191 Land, sir^ theei. more than eOOOele- ,

c^ent^ sila.ctt andcoiopsundshave been foandlosuiKrcandtxt.' - '

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A device traied may give investigates a glimpse cf what an anlintal- ;

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■ Rumor has it -h-' t— r™ uiuji. .....k— T.;...-..~.™.t......:.j..i.h t

adistiliing^rocesstotowerthecaloiiesoCoHinsrybeeT. Abandoning 1

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Pioneered in the LaserJet III,
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And you get resolution never
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Documents can be made even
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"Suggested U.S. list price. Adobe and PostScript are registered trademarlts of Adobe Systems Inc. in the U.S. and in other countries.

you'll automatically like
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hanced PCL5 printer language,
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EWLETT
PACKARD

1990 Hewlett-Packard Company PE 12022

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

COVER STOR^

Compaq Notebook
Ups the Ante

The LTE 386s/20
is the first notebook-class

PC that has a 20-MHz
386SX CPU and converts
to a desktop system

■

Michael Nadeau

Take a Compaq Deskpro 386/20,
give it a faster hard disk drive,
and squeeze it into a 7 '/2 -pound
notebook-size format, and you
have the Compaq LTE 386s/20. Worried
about expandability? No problem; Com-
paq will sell you a Desktop Expansion
Base that provides AT-compatible slots
and mass storage expansion options and
allows the LTE 386s/20 to double as your
desktop system.

The LTE 386s/20 is unique on two
counts: It is the first notebook PC to use
the 20-MHz 386SX CPU, and it is the
only notebook PC that is convertible to
desktop use. (At this writing, only a
handful of other vendors have announced

16-MHz 386SX notebook PCs; none are
shipping at this time.) In fact, it is the
only notebook PC powerful enough to
compete with the typical desktop systems
that businesses are buying today (see
photo 1). There is a catch, and that is the
LTE 386s/20's price tag: $6499 for the
base system; the Desktop Expansion
Base is another $1499— not including a
full-size keyboard or external monitor.
(All prices mentioned are not final, but
Compaq says prices will not exceed those
listed here.)

The base system, the Model 30, comes
standard with 2 megabytes of RAM, a
4K-byte RAM cache, a 3 '/2-inch 1.44-
MB floppy disk drive, a 21/2-inch 30-MB

Conner Peripherals hard disk drive, a
640- by 480-pixel VGA display, and sys-
tem utilities. This version also comes
with a full complement of I/O ports: one
serial, one parallel, and one mouse port;
ports for an external monitor, keyboard,
and keypad; and an "external options
interface."

The Model 60 comes with a 60-MB
hard disk drive and lists at $6999. It will
be the first system to use the 2 '/2 -inch
drives of that capacity. Compaq called
the unit that I saw an early prototype, al-
though it appeared to be of production
quality and seemed fully functional.
The LTE 386s/20 should be out by late
October.

140 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

LTE-Like in Looks Only

At first glance, the LTE 386s/20 is iden-
tical to the original LTE except for color;
it is beige instead of gray. On closer in-
spection, you can see differences in drive
location, thickness, port arrangement,
screen size, and some cosmetic aspects.

Compaq has a totally new design for
the electronics, which determined the
placement of the drives. For the mother-
board, the LTE 386s/20 uses a manufac-
turing technique developed for the aero-
space industry. If you look inside the
computer, you'll see what appears to be a
three-piece motherboard— two boards,
one on top of the other, and a third board
mounted vertically at the rear and

Photo 1: The Compaq LTE 386s/20 is arguably
the world's most powerful 7-pound PC.

The LTE 386s/20 is the fastest notebook-class PC that BYTE has
benchmarked to date. It seems that Compaq simply shrank its Deskpro 386/20
and gave it a faster hard disk drive. The Dell 320LX is a 20-MHz 386SX
desktop system included for comparison.

CPU

Disk

Video

Compaq LTE 386s/20

2.58

2.32

8.00

Compaq Deskpro 386/20

2.58

1.72

8.21

Dell 320LX

2.19

1.86

7.10

Benchmark results are indexed to show relative performance; higher numbers indicate better perfamance. For all
indexes, an 8-MHz IBM AT running MS-DOS 3.3 = 1 .

PHOTOGRAPHY: PAUL AVIS © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 141

COVER STORY
COMPAQ LTE 386S/20

Photo 2: On the left is the LTE 386s/20 motherboard
before it is punched out from its silicon casing.
On the right is the motherboard as it is installed in the computer.

holding all the ports. These three com-
ponents are manufactured as one sheet,
connected by the cabling and thin silicon
tabs. A machine "punches out" the
motherboard along these tabs, and then,
after the components are in place, it is
folded by hand into its proper configura-
tion (see photo 2). The procedure speeds
assembly and helps conserve space in-
side the unit.

A major weakness of the original LTE
was its CGA display with its less-than-
perfect aspect ratio. Compaq saw the
light and gave the LTE 386s/20 a full
VGA display, although this added a
smidgen to the unit's thickness. The
screen is edge-lit and has good contrast
and even light distribution.

All the ports congregate behind a slid-
ing door (a nice touch) to accommodate
the Desktop Expansion Base with its own
I/O ports, which are extensions of those
on the notebook. Unlike with the NEC

THE FACTS

Compaq LTE 386s/20 Model 30

No more than $6499

Compaq Computer Corp.
P.O. Box 692000
Houston, TX 77269
(713) 370-0670
Inquiry 1079.

ProSpeed SX/20 (see "The NEC Pro-
Speed SX/20: Take It and Leave It,"
September BYTE), you must maintain
separate CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEX-
EC.BAT files for the portable and desk-
top configurations of the LTE 386s/20
(this is especially important if the desk-
top version is on a LAN), and you must
remember to use the correct combina-
tion.

Unfortunately, no prototype of the
Desktop Expansion Base was available
for me to see. Its features include two
full-size 16-bit expansion slots, monitor
and keyboard ports, and two 5 '/4 - or 3 Vi-
inch drive bays.

What has not changed on the LTE
386s/20 is the keyboard. It is the same
80-key IBM Enhanced-compatible lay-
out. Key travel is somewhat less than
what you find on desktop units, but the
tactile feedback is adequate. I prefer the
familiar inverted T arrangement for the
cursor movement keys, rather than Com-
paq's cumbersome reclined L configura-
tion.

Memory expansion makes use of the
increasingly popular RAM cards. The
LTE 386s/20 has two slots into which the
credit-card-size RAM cards slide. Prices
for the RAM cards, which come in 1-MB
and 4-MB configurations, are $549 and
$2599, respectively.

Compaq claims a battery life of about
3 hours. I didn't have the opportunity to
verify that; it is about an hour less than

the rated time for the original LTE. The
LTE 386s/20 has a fast-charge feature
built into the system that brings the bat-
tery back to full capacity in 1 Vi hours.

Early Assessment

The preliminary BYTE Lab low-level
benchmark indexes place the LTE 386s/
20 on a par with the Compaq Deskpro
386/20 in the CPU and video categories,
but the notebook's speedier hard disk
drive bests the Deskpro 's index of 1.72,
with a score of 2.32 (see the table). No
other notebook-class PC even comes
close to this performance. The LTE
386s/20 will run any software that you
are likely to use, and at an acceptable
pace.

The price will scare away casual users
and many cash-conscious businesses, but
the LTE 386s/20 seems to have what
computing-dependent businesses need:
power and flexibility. Compaq's reputa-
tion for high quality and compatibility
further enhances the product. (Some of
the original LTEs did have a problem
with cracking cases; Compaq insists that
it has solved that problem by going with a
stronger plastic for the case.) But price
aside, Compaq has produced the high-
performance notebook PC against which
all others will be compared. ■

Michael Nadeau is the managing editor
of the BYTE Lab. You can reach him on
BIX as "miken. "

142 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

They Left out Features....

We Left out the COMMA!!

The only thing missing...

is the comma in tlie price. If you
lool< at the chart on the right you
wili see prices charged by our com-
petition. Aii but one contain o
comma. DesignCAD 3D seiis for
$399.00. Period. No Comma!

in order to draw the compiex pic-
tures shown below it is desirable to
hove the following 3D features:

0 Interactive design with 3D
cursor

• Blending of surfaces

» Boolean operations such as
add, subtract, and
intersection

• Complex extrusions

• Cross sectioning

• Block scaling

• On screen shading

• Shaded outputtoprintersand
plotters

All ofthese competitors left out one
or more of these desirable features
in their standard package. They
didn't forget the most horrible fea-
ture - the comma.

DesignCAD 3D offers ALL the listed
features plus many morel

If DesignCAD 3D has the power to
create the 3D objects shown below,
imagine how it could help with your
design projecti

DesignCAD 3D sells for $399. We left
outthecomma. Wedidn'tthinkyou
would mindl

PC MAGAZINE SAYS...

DesignCAD 3D, the latest feature-
packed, low-cost CADD package from
American Small Business Computers,
delivers more bang per buck than any
of Its low-cost competitors and threat-
ens programs costing ten times as
much. For a low-cost, self-contained
3D package... DeslgnCAD's range of
features steals the show. "

$399

AutoCAD rel. 10

CADKEY3.12

DataCAD with DC Modeler

a;<jn:i :n':iM AutoCAD AEG $1,000.00 AutoShade $500.00
Solids $995.00 IGES translator $1 ,995.00
DataCAD Velocity $2,000.00

DesignCAD 3D ver. 2.0 $ 399.00 tlOexpensive options! IGES Free.

MaxxiCAD1.02
Mega Model
MIcroStationPCS.O
ModelMate Plus 2.8
VersaCAD Design 5.4

3,300.00

MegaDraw $1 95, List $295, MegaShade $395
Customer Support Libraries $1 ,000.00
N/A
^ N/A

Source: Byte Magazine

BYTE MAGAZINE SAYS...

"At $399, DesignCAD 3D was the least
expensive package we saw, yet it was
one of the more powerful. ..Don't be
fooled by the remarkably low price, this
program can really perform. "

May 1989. page 178

Complete 3-Dimensional design fea-
tures make it easy for you to construct
realistic 3-D models. With full solid-
object modeling capabilities you can
analyze your drawing to determine
the volume, surface area or even
center of gravity! DesignCAD 3-D even
permits you to check for interference
between objects! Aeronautical Engi-
neers can now find the center of grav-
ity for a new airplane design with a
couple of keystrokes. The Architect
can determine the surface area of a
roof for decking in a matter of minutes.
The Civil Engineer can calculate the
volume of a lake or dam in seconds.
The Mechanical Engineer will know for
sure if certain parts fit together without
interference. The uses for DesignCAD
3-D are only limited by YOUR imagina-
tion!

HOW DO I GET ONE?

DesignCAD 3-D and DesignCAD 2D are
available from most retail computer
stores, or you may order directly from
us. If you have questions about which
program to purchase please give us a
call. All you need to run DesignCAD
3-D is an IBM PC or compatible com-
puter with 640 K RAM memory and a
hard disk. Both products support most
graphics cards, printers, plotters and
digitizers. Free Information and a demo
disk are available by faxing (918) 825-
6359 or telephoning:

1-(918) 825-4844

American Small Business Computers • 327 South Mill Street • Pryor, OK 74361 U.S.A.

Circle 27 on Reader Service Card

HENEWB

ANY SYSIBM. ANY

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©1990. The Iomega togo and Bernoulli are registered uademarks, and Bernoulli Means Security For Your Data is a
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ERNOULU.

■ML ANY PLACE.

What if you're caught someplace with a lot of work to do and no
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STORAGE S0LUT:0NS BY

Circle 183 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 184)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Owen Linderholm
and Jeff Bertolucci

The New Macs on the Block

146 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990 PHOTOGRAPHY: MEL LINDSTROM © 1990

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Apple's new systems
feature lower prices
and a new modular design

Although Apple has long been
fond of calling the Macintosh
"the computer for the rest of
us," many potential Mac users
have found the machines too expensive
for their pocketbooks. Apple has long
been criticized for being too expensive
and for not being competitively priced
against IBM PC-compatible computers.
This criticism seems especially apt when
you consider that, except for a brief trial
period last year, no Mac has ever had a
list price below $1000. Since Apple has
no direct competition in its Macintosh

product line, competitive pricing has
never been its foremost concern.

Apple is hoping to change that image
with its introduction of three new Macs.
First is the long-awaited "Cheap Mac"—
the new Mac Classic, which retails for
$999 in its simplest configuration. For
users who need color but can't afford a
Mac II, Apple will be offering the new
Mac LC for approximately $3000, in-
cluding monitor. Finally, there's a new
member of the Mac II family, the Mac
Ilsi, priced at $4870 including monitor.

Apple is trying to make a point with

these systems. A Mac always comes with
enough features to let you get to work im-
mediately and productively with a range
of applications. Features that are options
on IBM PC-compatible systems are built
in on the Mac (e.g., networking, digi-
tized sound, and a graphical user envi-
ronment). Apple has also tried wherever
possible to make these systems ready for
the future— ready, specifically, for the
forthcoming System 7.0 software. The
only exception to this is the basic Classic
configuration, which wUl require addi-
tional memory.

The Mac Classic

The Mac Classic represents a complete
overhaul of the lowest end of Apple's cur-
rent product line. Essentially, it is the
hardware soul of the Mac SE at less than
the price of a Mac Plus. The Classic
comes in two configurations: a low-end
model that includes 1 megabyte of 120-
nanosecond RAM and a SuperDrive
floppy disk drive for $999; and a $1499
model with 2 MB of RAM and a fast (21-
ms average access time) 40-MB hard disk
drive. The street price of the low-end
Classic might go below $700, while the
high-end model's might dip to $1000.

Externally, the Classic closely resem-
bles the SE. There are some minor cos-
metic differences, but the familiar up-
right chassis with the built-in black-and-
white 9-inch monitor remains the same.
The system also remains relatively easy
to carry around, for a desktop system.
The high-end model weighs in at 17
pounds, only 1 pound more than a Mac
Portable.

The Classic uses a single Apple Desk-
top Bus (ADB) port and two mini-DIN-8
connectors for the serial ports. In con-
trast, the Mac Plus used a unique key-
board and keyboard connector, and DB-9
connectors for the serial ports. Unlike

with previous Macintosh systems, the
keyboard is included in the price of the
Classic.

Other I/O ports include a DB-25 SCSI
port, an external speaker port, and the
external floppy disk drive port for 800K-
byte or 1.4-MB disks. The Classic's in-
ternal hard disk drive is considerably
faster than the hard disk drives currently
available from Apple for the SE.

The Classic's system board has been

completely redesigned with lower cost in
mind. It is only 60 percent of the size of
the SE's system board. Apple put a great
deal of effort into integrating as many
functions as possible into custom appli-
cation-specific ICs and into laying the
board out optimally. One example of the
improvements achieved in this way is a
smaller and lighter power supply that
powers both the Classic's main system
and its monitor. In contrast, the SE uses

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 147

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
THE NEW MACS ON THE BLOCK

New Mac
Lineup

By January 1991, when the
Mac LC becomes available,
Apple's Macintosh lineup will
contain the following systems:

PORTABLE FAMILY

Mac Portable

COMPACT FAMILY

Mac Classic
Mac SE/30

"LC" FAMILY
MacLC

MODULAR FAMILY

Mac Ilsi
Mac IIx
Mac Ilci
Mac Ilfx

New Prices
for
Existing
Macs

Mac Ilci

with 4 MB of RAM and
a floppy disk drive:
$5969

Mac Ilci

with 4 MB of RAM and
an 80-MB hard disk drive:
$6669

Mac SE/30
with 1 MB of RAM and
a 40-MB hard disk drive:
$3369

Mac SE/30

with 4 MB of RAM and
an 80-MB hard disk drive:
$4569

two separate supplies: one to power the
digital board, and another to power the
analog circuits that drive the monitor.
The Classic's fan mounts at the bottom of
the unit for cooling efficiency and is ex-
tremely quiet.

Like the SE, the Classic uses an 8-
MHz 68000. Memory is expandable to a
maximum of 4 MB by adding 120-ns sin-
gle in-line memory modules. You add
this memory by inserting a small card
that has 1 MB of RAM on it and two
SIMM sockets.

Like those of its predecessors, the
Classic's video buffer is in main RAM.
While this simplifies the Classic's de-
sign (as it did the Mac Plus and SB's),
there's a 25 percent performance penalty
for bus bandwidth when RAM used for
video is accessed to refresh the screen.
The Classic should be as fast as an SE
and 25 percent faster than a Plus.

The Classic has 512K bytes of ROM,
twice the size of the SE's ROM. This
ROM incorporates the Hierarchical File
System and drivers for SCSI, ADB,
AppleTalk, the Toolbox, and Quick-
Draw.

Where the Classic more closely resem-
bles the Mac Plus than the SE is in its lack
of an internal expansion slot. This was a
cost/design trade-off. Leaving out the
slot was a way to save money on the Clas-

sic's design, and Apple's research indi-
cated that 90 percent of users wouldn't be
interested in expansion capabilities. You
could expand the system by way of its
SCSI bus, but it will be hard to add accel-
erators or large external monitors.

The Classic will ship with the newest
revision of System software, version
6.0.6, although it will work with version
6.0.5. The Classic was, however, de-
signed with System 7.0 in mind. The
high-end model is System 7.0-ready,
while the low-end model only requires an
additional megabyte of RAM. Although
the Classic cannot make use of it. System
6.0.6 includes the new Sound Manager
with its sound input capabilities.

Apple is going to discontinue both the
Mac Plus and the SE, since it believes
that the Classic is a good replacement for
both. Those in the market for either a
Plus or an SE will be better off with a
Classic instead. (This includes univer-
sity students or anybody who wants a
"transportable Mac" for an occasional
journey.) According to Apple, retaining
the small, all-in-one footprint of the
original Mac is important for the low-
end market.

The preliminary BYTE benchmark re-
sults (see the table) indicate that the Clas-
sic is— no surprise here— on a par with
the SE in performance.

■ MAC CLASSIC BENCHMARK RESULTS ■

Preliminary BYTE benchmark results (in seconds) for the new Mac Classic

suggest that it performs at about the same speed as the older Mac SE.

The Classic turned in an appreciably slower time on

two of the tests, but this

could be due to problems with the early prototype we

used. The prototype

system we tested had 2 MB of RAM and a 40-MB hard disk drive.

Test

Mac Classic

MacSE

CPU

Matrix

77.22*

67.10

String move

Byte-wide

374.73

374.50

Word-wide

187.38

186.70

Doubleword-wide

121.73*

92.40

Sort

154.53

154.20

Sieve

170.83

170.20

Disk I/O

1 -megabyte write

6.63

14.80

1 -megabyte read

4.38

8.10

Video Text

Text

TextEdit

16.35

15.10

DrawString

3.85

3.80

Graptiics

Slow test

88.28

84.40

QuickDraw

1.22

1.10

* Possible benchmark error.

148 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

For a full description of the Mac benchmarks, see "Introducing the New BYTE Benchmarks," June 1988 BYTE.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
THE NEW MACS ON THE BLOCK

Mac LC:

Low-Cost Color in a New Box

The Mac LC is Apple's "lowest-cost col-
or-capable computer"— hence the name.
This system is intended to fill the void
between the SE/30 and the IIx line. The
LC will be offered for a complete system
price of $3000, including keyboard (the
same compact keyboard that comes with
the Classic), hard disk drive, and color
monitor.

The LC also represents a new design
shape for Apple. It is similar to Sun's
"pizza box" workstation, but in a differ-
ent, smaller size. The case is a flat box
shape, measuring 12]/^ inches wide by 15
inches deep by 3 inches high. It weighs
S% pounds. The front of the case, which
is similar in style to the Mac II line, has
a SuperDrive floppy disk drive on the
right. On the back are seven ports: a vid-
eo port, a printer port, a modem port, a
SCSI connector, an ADB connector, a
sound-out port, and a sound-in port. The
last two provide the LC with built-in
complete sound-processing capabilities.

With only 24 chips, the LC's logic
board represents a high level of integra-
tion that helps reduce costs (see photo 1).
The LC uses a 16-MHz 68020 CPU and
has built-in video logic like the Mac Ilci.
The system comes standard with 2 MB of
100-ns fast paged-mode soldered RAM,
expandable to 10 MB in two SIMM sock-
ets. There is no FPU, and no socket for
one. The 512K-byte ROM includes 32-
Bit Color QuickDraw. The system uses a
40-MB internal SCSI hard disk drive.

The LC's built-in video supports three
monitors. One is Apple's existing 13-
inch 640- by 480-pixel color monitor.
Another is a 12-inch 640- by 480-pixel
monochrome monitor, a basic redesign
of the existing 12-inch monochrome
monitor that makes it cheaper to produce
while improving the picture quality.

Finally, a new color monitor, the
Macintosh 12-inch RGB Display, pro-
vides a 512- by 384-pixel display. This
new monitor was designed because Ap-
ple thought that existing color monitors
didn't provide a sufficiently good picture
with low-resolution 8-bit color and were
too expensive. Thus, the new monitor
has a smaller screen that displays 8-bit
and 16-bit color crisply and clearly.

The LC uses 512K bytes of video
RAM on the main logic board as the
video frame buffer. With this frame buf-
fer, you get 16 colors or gray scales on
the 640- by 480-pixel monitors and 256
colors on the 12-inch RGB monitor. You
can expand the buffer by plugging 512K
bytes of additional VRAM into SIMM
sockets. At the maximum frame buffer

size, the LC can get 256 colors or gray
scales on the larger displays, 16-bit color
(over 32,000 colors) on the new 12-inch
RGB monitor, and 256 gray scales on the
12-inch monochrome monitor.

The LC also includes one expansion
slot, a 68020 Direct Slot. This slot is
similar to the 68030 Direct Slot on the
SE/30 and allows direct access to the
CPU bus. However, the LC's 68020 Di-
rect Slot is not compatible with the SE/
30's 68030 Direct Slot. Because the LC

doesn't have a socket for a paged mem-
ory management unit, one possible use of
this Direct Slot might be to add a 68030
processor board to make use of the vir-
tual memory technology in System 7.0.
Apple also plans to introduce an Ethernet
board for under $400 and an Apple He
compatibility board that will cost less
than $250. The latter unit would let the
LC run Apple He software at full speed
and would provide support for Apple He
peripherals. For example, with a He

Photo 1: The Mac LC's logic board has a low component count due to the high level
of logic integration. On the left edge is the 68020 Direct Slot; near the right edge are
the SIMM sockets for RAM and the SIMM-mounted ROM.

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 149

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
THE NEW MACS ON THE BLOCK

compatibility board, an LC mouse emu-
lates an Apple II mouse.

Why the Apple He compatibility? Ap-
ple sees the LC as tapping into the educa-
tion markets. With a retail price of $3000
for a complete system, the LC might ap-
peal to schools that currently use Apple
lis, especially since Apple is also plan-
ning to make single and dual floppy disk
drive versions of this system available at
a lower price to the educational market
only.

Apple says that the LC has the same

computing power as a 16-MHz 386SX
system and is comparable in price to SX
systems from IBM and Compaq; the
company admits, though, that PC clone
makers offer complete SX/VGA systems
for far less than the LC's $3000 retail
price. The LC with 2 MB of RAM and an
internal 40-MB hard disk drive will cost
approximately $2400. With the new 12-
inch RGB color monitor costing $600,
it is possible to get a color Macintosh
system for $3000. The 12-inch mono-
chrome monitor costs $300, so a usable

LC system could actually be purchased
for as little as $2700. The street price of a
color LC will probably be around $2300
to $2400, making it competitive with
high-end 386SX machines from major
manufacturers.

Unfortunately, the Mac LC will not be
available until January 1991. It is being
manufactured at Apple's facilities in Sin-
gapore. This delay means that the prices
of reasonably competitive IBM PC-com-
patible systems might fall still further
before the LC is released.

THE FACTS

Mac Classic

with keyboard, 1 MB of RAM,
floppy disk drive, and built-in
monochrome monitor, $999;
with keyboard, 2 MB of RAM, 40-
MB hard disk drive, and
monochrome monitor, $1499

MacLC

with keyboard, 2 MB of RAM, and
40-MB hard disk drive, $2400
(approximate)

Mac Ilsi

with 2 MB of RAM and 40-MB
hard disk drive, $3769;
with 5 MB of RAM and 80-MB
hard disk drive, $4569

Apple Computer, Inc.

20525 Mariani Ave.
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 996-1010
Inquiry 1080.

Mac Ilsi:

Lower Cost, More Options
The Mac Ilsi is Apple's new low-cost
Mac II. Designed to replace the Ilex
(currently Apple's most popular Mac II
model), the Ilsi has some big shoes to
fill. To fully appreciate the new Ilsi, you
must first compare it with the Ilex to see
the differences between the two ma-
chines. The 10-pound Mac Ilsi comes in
a slimmer, smaller box (although it is
larger than the pizza-box-shaped LC) . Its
dimensions are 4 inches high by 12 '/2
wide by 15 inches deep.

The Ilsi's basic configuration includes
a 20-MHz 68030 CPU, no FPU, and 2
MB of 100-ns, fast paged-mode RAM.
One MB of RAM is on the Ilsi's main
logic board; the other is on a SIMM. You
can add up to 16 MB by installing more
SIMMs. Apple is introducing 2-MB and
8-MB memory-expansion kits for the
Ilsi and Ilci. These kits consist of four
512K-byte-density and four 2-MB-den-
sity SIMMs, respectively. (The Mac Ilfx
uses nonstandard 64-pin SIMMs, so it
cannot use the new expansion kits.)

The Ilsi includes eight built-in ports:

an ADB port, a SCSI port, an external
disk drive port, two serial ports, a video
port, one stereo sound output port, and
the new sound input port. Interestingly,
the Ilsi has a single expansion connector
that can be set up as either a NuBus slot
or a 68030 Direct Slot. This trick is ac-
complished by special adapters (sold
separately for $200) that attach to the
connector and provide a slot that's paral-
lel to the system board. Through this ma-
neuver, a NuBus board can fit inside the
Ilsi's smaller housing. Both adapters
also provide a 68882 FPU. Why only one
expansion slot? Apple claims that most
Mac II users have only one board in their
machines anyway — usually a video
board. So Apple added built-in video to
the Ilsi system board, leaving the expan-
sion slot open for more esoteric options.

Like the new Classic and the LC, the
Ilsi offers tight logic-board integration
(see photo 2). The board is three-quar-
ters the size of the Ilex board. Apple is
able to offer the Ilsi for $2200 less than
the Ilex by removing much of the origi-
nal system logic from the main logic
board and by limiting expansion capabil-
ities and making them an option. Despite
the size reduction, however, the Ilsi of-
fers the same performance as the Ilex
and includes many features that the Ilex
doesn't have, including built-in 8-bit col-
or video and support for 32-Bit Color
QuickDraw in ROM. (The Ilsi can gener-
ate 24-bit color video by using a 24-bit
video board in a NuBus slot adapter.)
The Ilsi logic board now includes a ROM
SIMM socket to simplify future firm-
ware upgrades (the Ilex's ROM chips
were soldered to the main logic board).
The machine's 512K bytes of ROM in-
cludes 32-bit memory support.

Sound Investment

This brings us to one of the most interest-
ing features on both the LC and the Ilsi:
built-in sound input. Apple sees sound as
a natural extension to the Mac platform.

150 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

There's more to comparing
LaserJet memory boards
than just the name

a;
u

5-1

Pacific Data Products

1MB/$199
2MB/$299
4MB/^499

Lifetime

Fully
Upgradeable
to 4 MB

Hewlett-Packard

lMB/$495
2MB/$740
4 MB /Not Available

One Year

Not
Upgradeable

See us at
ly

Booth #W818 November 12-16, 1990
Las Vegas, Nevada

Fall '90

Do

'on't settle for less just
to buy the HP label. Get
more for less with Pacific
Data Products Pacific 4
Memory for HP LaserJet IIP
and III prir\ters. With Pacific 4
Memory you get 4 MB of
memory for only four dollars
more than the price of 1 MB
from HP. You also get a
lifetime warranty, and
upgradeabihty so you can
start with 1 MB of memory,
then simply upgrade when
you need more. Just use the
Pacific Data Memory
Upgrade Kit ($99.00). It
contains 1 MB of thoroughly
tested DRAM chips specifi-
cally for Pacific 4 Memory
and our 2 Plus 2 memory

To learn how you can get
more for less, call your
nearest dealer or contact:
Pacific Data Products,
9125 Rehco Rd., San Diego,
CA 92121, (619) 597-3114
Fax (619) 552-0889.

Prices are suggested retail list price. Pacific 4 Memory and 2 Plus 2 are trademarks of Pacific Data Products, inc.
All other company and product names are trademarks of the company or manufacturer respectively.
© 1990 Pacific Data Products, Inc.

PACIFIC

DATA PRODUCTS

Circle 270 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 271)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
THE NEW MACS ON THE BLOCK

Photo 2: The Mac Usi board combines on-board video and support for either a
NuBus slot or a 68030 Direct Slot via a special adapter. This adapter plugs into the
connector on the board's left edge. By the connector is one socket for SIMM-mounted
ROM and four SIMM-mounted RAM sockets. At the center are crystal oscillators for
the on-board video and bus clock. The sound I/O jacks are at the upper right.

Both the Ilsi and the LC come bundled
with an Apple electret microphone and
phono jack. The microphone is a simple,
button-shaped device (roughly the size of
a silver dollar) that offers 8-bit monaural
sound. It's a simple, omnidirectional mi-
crophone for recording messages; you
can clip it to your clothing or place it on
top of the Mac monitor. The sound input
is via a standard phono adapter jack, so
alternative microphones or other audio
devices can be used.

One problem with the new microphone
is that it connects to the back of the Mac
box; a keyboard-based port for the mike
would have been far more convenient.
The NeXT Computer, for example, has a
sound input port on its monitor stand.

With these devices and the appropriate
software, you could annotate sound mes-
sages to documents and spreadsheets, for
example. Apple demonstrated a pre-al-
pha version of an Ashton-Tate word pro-
cessing program that lets you annotate
sound messages to a document. Sounds
are sampled at 1 1 or 22 kHz. The sound
is filtered through a custom filter/pream-
plifier chip, converted to digital form,
and stored in memory or directly on the
hard disk. Also included is the Macin-
tosh Audio Compression Expansion
sound utility, which compresses sounds

at ratios of 3 to 1 or 6 to 1 . MACE lets you
store up to 3 hours of sound on a 40-MB
hard disk. The new sound capabilities do
not include stereo sound.

An application programming interface
for sound is included with the system,
and Apple has attempted as much as pos-
sible to keep its sound extensions com-
patible with existing sound products
from third parties, like Farallon's Mac-
Recorder. The Control Panel desk acces-
sory now has sound capabilities, includ-
ing the ability to record your own alert
sounds to replace the standard system
sounds. Apple plans to eventually up-
grade the rest of the Mac II family to in-
clude the same sound features that come
with the Ilsi and LC .

The Ilsi is also the least expensive Mac
capable of running A/UX, Apple's ver-
sion of Unix: Apple is introducing a ver-
sion of A/UX 2.0 that supports the Ilsi.

In conjunction with Apple's new ag-
gressive pricing strategy for hardware,
some software vendors have banded to-
gether to provide a low-cost software so-
lution for Apple users. A bundle consist-
ing of WriteNow 2.2, SuperPaint 2.0,
Full Impact 1.1, and Record Holder Plus
will retail for $349.

The Ilsi is available now. The standard
configuration with 2 MB of RAM and a

40-MB hard disk drive is $3769. Add an
Apple high-resolution monitor and the
standard keyboard, and the price jumps
to $4869. The Ilsi minus monitor and
keyboard and with 5 MB of RAM and an
80-MB hard disk drive will be $4569.
(As with other Mac lis, the buyer must
choose between the standard or extra-
large keyboard. However, as mentioned
earlier, the keyboard comes bundled
with the new Classic and LC systems.)
Apple thinks the street price for a bare-
bones Ilsi, including monitor and key-
board, could drop to around $3600.

Apple Gets Price Wise

Along with introducing the new models,
Apple is discontinuing three Macs. The
Mac Plus and SE are being replaced by
the Classic, and the Ilex by the Ilsi. And
to prove it's serious about its new com-
petitive image, Apple has reduced the
prices of existing Ilci and SE/30 config-
urations.

Apple's goal with its new Macs and
lower prices is to reach more people by
increasing unit sales and market share.
Indeed, the pricing of the new Macs is
competitive, and Apple has a leaner,
meaner desktop lineup these days. The
new Macs offer impressive features for
their price, and Apple should attract a lot
of new customers. However, if viewed
from a strict price-per-raw-computing-
performance perspective, these systems
still don't match up with the lower-cost
IBM PC compatibles.

What should not be forgotten in the
equation is the ease of use of Apple's sys-
tems and the extras that come with them.
These are Apple's strengths and also its
Achilles' heel. It is impossibly expensive
to add into an IBM PC compatible all the
extras that Apple provides. But do people
want these extras or ease of use? Apple
still has to persuade buyers that the inte-
grated philosophy behind its systems is
best. The new systems and prices just
make this task a lot easier.

Probably the biggest drawback of Ap-
ple's new low-price systems is the rela-
tive lack of expansion options on the
cheaper Macs. Apple based its decision
to leave out expansion options on market
research that shows that most users don't
want or need the expansion. But it could
be a problem farther down the line when
users eventually want to upgrade. ■

Owen Linderholm is a BYTE news editor
in San Francisco. He can be reached on
BIX as "owenl. " Jeff Bertolucci is a
BYTE associate news editor in San Fran-
cisco. He can be reached on BIX as
"bertolucci. "

152 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Take the Oops & Downs
out of your next presentation.

I Color Paint Company

Tired of fumbling with slides? Fiddling with transparencies?
Losing your audience?

Well, it's time to use an LCD projection panel from In Focus
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So you make stronger presentations. And easily hold any audience.
What's more, the 640x480 display works with IBM® compatibles,
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and Macintosh are regiscered trademarks of their respective companies.

htroducing this year^
best performance. Sob.

Once again, Compaq unleashes a series of stun-
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Tfie new COMPAQ DESKPRO 486/33L and
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And 33-MHz 486 models of the COMPAQ
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Both machines fulfill your need for speed. They're
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Both offer unequaled growth potential with seven
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And this year^
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the power of
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For networks,

the COMPAQ SYSTEMPRO Family now delivers the
ability to employ one or two 33-MHz 486 or 386 micro-
processors. It's power you can put to work in the broad-
est range of connected environments, from resource
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Inside you'll find innovations like a 512-Kbyte
ServerCache design, EISA I/O performance and
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It simply works better.

Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or roistered trademarks of their respectii'e companies. S' 1990 Compaq Computer Corporation, All rights reseni-ed.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

A New Status Quo
for Quattro

Andrew Reinhardt

The newest version of

Borland's spreadsheet
features 3-D graphics
and a simple solver

Dislodging an entrenched mar-
ket leader like Lotus 1-2-3 re-
quires rivals to produce soft-
ware that is fundamentally a
better deal. With a new version of its
popular Quattro Pro spreadsheet, Bor-
land International continues to achieve
just that: Quattro Pro 2.0 offers an ex-
panded set of features over the previous
version, while maintaining the advan-
tages it already enjoyed over 1-2-3.

Quattro Pro provides more features
and better performance than 1-2-3— and
at a lower price— yet it will run on any
DOS machine (e.g., an 8088-based XT
with 512K bytes of RAM). Quattro Pro
does not use the multilayered "three-
dimensional" architecture of 1-2-3 re-
lease 3.0 (nor can it read Lotus .WK3
files), but it does offer a reasonable alter-

File EditStgl

fli; (U2]

:\S0LUES.UQ1=

Princ

$219,088.88

Tern of loan (in nontiis)

248

finnual Interest Rate

12.5-x

(floiithly Interest Rate)

1.84X

Monthly Paynent

Irterest Rste vs Mortgage

aOED 2B> 2*00 MfiO

r

:sFILLER.UQl-

HUH

READV

Quattro Pro lets you display multiple, linked worksheets
and live graphics on the screen at the same time.

native: easy spreadsheet linking and the
ability to have several spreadsheets
stacked or tiled on the screen at once.

The ability to run comfortably in con-
ventional DOS memory (by comparison,
1-2-3 release 3.0 requires 1 megabyte of
installed RAM and uses a built-in DOS
extender) is due to Borland's Virtual
Real-Time Object-Oriented Memory
Management architecture, a technique
that breaks the program code into small
chunks that are swapped in and out of
memory as needed. VROOMM's effi-
cient memory management makes it pos-
sible to load larger spreadsheets in con-
ventional RAM than is possible under
1-2-3 release 2.2. And for very large
spreadsheets, Quattro Pro supports up to
8 MB of EMS 4.0 memory.

Aside from its speed and small mem-
ory needs, the main advantages of Quat-
tro Pro are superior graphics and spread-
sheet publishing. For example, it comes
with a Graph Annotator. This is a graph-
ics program that is as sophisticated as the
1-2-3/G Graph Tool and is easier to use.
You can also mix data and live charts on
the same worksheet.

These capabilities have been enhanced
with four new 3-D graph types (i.e.,
bars, step, area, and ribbon) and faster
LaserJet drivers that support download-
able Bitstream fonts. Quattro Pro also
now offers a 132-column mode (on EGA/
VGA cards that support extended charac-
ter sets), so you can view 12 months of a
budget calculation on one screen.

However, Quattro Pro does have one
important drawback compared with re-
lease 3. 1 of 1-2-3: The Lotus spreadsheet
now has a WYSIWYG mode that shows
fonts and other graphical attributes on-
screen as they will appear in printed out-
put. By contrast, Quattro Pro will show
colors, boxes, shading, and graphs, but
not fonts.

Interactive Slide Shows

One of the most distinctive capabilities of
Quattro Pro is the ProShow presentation

156 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

tool, which lets you create slide shows
using spreadsheet data, graphs, and text.
In version 2.0, ProShow presentations
can become interactive and nonlinear:
By clicking on "graph buttons" added to
the screen, you can branch to other
graphics or run macros.

Because ProShow is integrated into
Quattro Pro, it can be an easier way to
create presentations than exporting
worksheets and graphics to a slide-show
package (especially when the data is fre-
quently updated), but it's not as graphi-
cally rich as Microsoft PowerPoint.

Quattro Pro 2.0 also adds a capability
unmatched in any DOS-based spread-
sheet: a Solve For tool that is similar to
the Backsolver utility that is found in
1-2-3/G. Both Solve For and Backsolver
can tweak a single input variable to pro-
duce a specified result, sparing you from
trial-and-error goal seeking. However,
Solve For doesn't match the power of the
full 1-2-3/G Solver, which uses separate
OS/2 threads to jiggle multiple factors
constrained by numerous criteria.

Finally, Quattro Pro has added better
support for networking, file import/ex-
port, and data access. It offers more
printer drivers and graphics import/ex-
port formats, as well as a choice of inter-
national character sets with correct sort-
ing for non-English text.

Quattro Pro now works better with
Lotus 1-2-3. Release 2.2 files can be
read into Quattro Pro with their cell-
linking attributes preserved.

For networked installations, Quattro
Pro 2.0 permits a single, shared set of
large font files to reside on the server,
saving disk space. The software includes
user license management, which auto-
matically monitors the number of simul-
taneous users of the program on a LAN.

And for spreadsheet users who want to
access Structured Query Language data-
bases, Borland has strengthened the ties
between Quattro Pro, Paradox 3.5, and
the Paradox SQL Link, which talks to
SQL Server, IBM OS/2 Extended Edi-
tion, and Oracle Server. Now, if you
have at least a 286 machine and 2 MB of
RAM, you can load both Quattro Pro and
Paradox, toggle between them with a hot
key, and easily load Paradox or SQL data
tables into a Quattro Pro spreadsheet for
analysis or graphics.

In the interest of compatibility with in-
dustry-standard 1-2-3, you still have a
choice of user interfaces: the 1-2-3 menu
tree or a Common User Access-com-
pliant pull-down Quattro menu tree.
Having Lotus menus available is a com-
fortable fallback for those users bred on
1-2-3, but the Quattro menus are actually

more efficient and easier to use. Borland
is now the target of a lawsuit by Lotus for
allegedly copying the look and feel of
1-2-3, but even without 1-2-3 menus,
Quattro Pro would be a snap to learn for
any experienced spreadsheet user.

One Size Fits All

Perhaps the most important point in
Quattro Pro's favor is that while most of
its features are available in some release
of 1-2-3 (i.e., release 2.2 with the All-
ways add-in, release 3.1 with the Impress
add-in, or 1-2-3/G for OS/2-Presentation
Manager), no one package has them all.

In fact, the various releases of 1-2-3
are starting to get quite confusing for
customers and technical-support person-
nel: The releases aire segmented by hard-
ware platform, each offers features the
others lack, and they all use different
commands and file formats for their pre-
sentation and publishing modules.

Quattro Pro, on the other hand, runs
on any DOS platform with the same set of
features. If you have a large investment in
1-2-3 data files, a lot of older-generation
PCs, and a desire to tap into the latest
spreadsheet capabilities, Quattro Pro is
probably your best answer. ■

Andrew Reinhardt is BYTE's associate
news editor in New York City. He can be
reached on BIX as "areinhardt. "

COMPANY INFORMATION

Quattro Pro 2.0

$495

Requirements:
IBM XT or compatible
with a hard disk drive and
512K bytes of RAM.

Borland International, Inc.
1800 Green Hills Rd.
P.O. Box 660001
Scotts Valley, CA 95066
(408) 438-8400
Inquiry 1166.

The new release of Quattro Pro supports 3-D bar charts (above),
as well as 3-D ribbons, steps, and area plots.

Summer Sales Period Results

(grouped by product line)

Ma[y June July August Sept
Product

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 157

Professional developers require

TURBO C++ Professional

by Borland International
Be objective! Object-Oriented
Programming is programming in
ttie 90s. Let Borland tal<e you
there witti a native, AT&T 2.0
compatible C++ compiler, an ANSI
C compiler, the VROOMM overlay
manager, and documentation and
tutorials. You also get the
Programmer's Platform with open
architecture for integrating your
own tools, integrated debugging
with Turbo Debugger 2.0, Turbo
Assembler 2.0 with NOP squishing
and 486 support, the new Turbo
Profiler, and much, much more.
UST: $300 P8 Price: $259

FastFaxts 777-0*2

386 DEVELOPMENT

Pric*

386 Max 5.0 $109

386|ASM'LINK by Pharlap 495

DESQview386 189

F77-EM32 + Lahey Ergo 1 055

FoxBASE+/386 479

Metaware High C 386/486 91 9

MetaWare Pascal 386/486 839

NDP Fortran w/VM 829

NDP C - 386 829

QEMM 386 95

VM-386 229

WATCOM C8.0 386 Prof. 1 1 55

WATCOM C8.0 386 Stand. 795

Zortech C++ 386 Dev. 865

AI-LANGUAGES

ARITY Combination Package 989

LISPC 269

PC Scheme LISP 85

TransLISP PLUS w/source 99

PDC Prolog Compiler 239

ASSEMBLERS

MS MASM 105

Turbo Debugger & Tools 119

Visible Computer:80286 85

BASIC & ADD-ONS

BAS-C Commercial 439

dB/LIB Professional 179

MS QuickBASIC V4.5 69

QBase 139

QuickPak Prof. V3.1 6 189

C LANGUAGE COMPILERS

Instant C 769

Lattice C - 6.0 Compiler 1 89

Microsoft C 6.0 349

Microsoft QuickC 69

WATCOM C8.0/286 Prof. 429

WATCOM C8.0/286 Stand. 359

CASE & PROTOTYPERS

Dan Bricklin Demo II 185

EasyCase Plus 275

EasyCase Plus Prof. Pack 365

EasyFlow 135

Instant Replay III 119

Matrix Layout 179
MetaDesign by Meta Software 295
Pro-C 2.0w/Wori<bench Combo735

ProtoFinish by Genesis 279

Show Partner F/X 279

Visible Analyst 585
COBOL

MS COBOL V3.0 639

Realia COBOL 859

COMMUNICATIONS
ADD-ONS

C Asynch Manager 3.0 1 39

Essential COMM by S. Mtn. 259

Greenleaf Comm Library 329

QuickComm 129

DBASE

Clipper 5.0
dBASE IV
dBFAST/PLUS
dBIMN V
dBXL
FoxPro

FoxBASE + - V2.1
Quicksilver

550
499
315
275
209
495
279
399

DBMS

Cause Professional 499

CLARION Prof. Dev. V2.1 549

D the data language 359

Magic PC 349

Paradox V3.0 479

R:BASE 3.1 499

DBMS TOOLS &
UBRARIES

AdComm for Clipper 279

Artful.LIb 200
BALER Spreadsheet Compiler 399

CLEAR + for dBASE 179

dBASE BlackBox 65

dBASE Online 129

BRIEF w/dBRIEF Call

dBX/dBport 549

dGE 4.0 279

dQUERYMU 179

dSalvage Professional 195

FLIPPE R Graphics Library 1 79

FUNCky.LIB 179

Genifer ■ code generator 269

Net Lib 229

Pro Clip 149

R&R Relational Reportwriter 139

R&R Code Generator 1 29

Scrimmage 139

SilverComm Library 229

SilverPaint 100

Steve Straley's Toolkit 1 69

The UnMouse -
More Speed in Less Space

by MicroTouch

The UnMouse is a touch-sensitive
tablet that gives you faster cursor
speed - - in a fraction of the space
a mouse takes up. Plus you can
slip templates under its glass to
access up to 60 Power KeyPad
functions or use its stylus to draw,
trace or input graphics.

UST: $235 PS Price: $219

FastFaxts 291S-W1

UI2 Touch & Go

by Wallsoft

UI2 Touch S Go is a subset of The
Ul Programmer 2, Developer's
Release for less experienced pro-
grammers. It has a screen painter
and integrated data dictionary and
comes with the GENS'VS template
system, customized application
aeneration without programming.
GENSYS handles almost all
application development needs,
'nghtoutoflhebox'. UI2 Touch &
Go generates dBASE 111+ and IV,
Clipper, FoxBASE+, FoxPro,
Quicksilver and dBXL programs.
UST: $395 PS Price: $319

FastFaxts 212-011

RM/FORTRAN

by Ryan McFarland

RM/FORTRAN is a high resolution
ANSI 77 FORTRAN compiler for
DOS and OS/2. It includes RM/
Forte, an advanced programming
environment giving you instant
access to editing, compiling,
linking, debugging, and file
management utilities at a single
keystroke. You easily move
between tasks and the tools you
need, productively developing your
solutions.

UST; $595 PS Price: $499

FastFaxts 437-009

Dr. Switch-ASE

by Black & White Int'l, Inc.
Dr. Switch-ASE turns any size
Dbase application into a RAM
resident (TSR) program that
occupies only 16-20K of RAM;
Supports Clipper, dBASE III
PLUS, dBASE IV, FoxBASE +
and FoxPro. Dr. Switch-ASE
ndudes Cut, Paste, Timer, Alarm
and Macro functions. It supports
Expanded and Extended memory
and is fully network compatible.
UST: $100 PS Price: $95

FastFaxts 1178-006

Grcle 390 on Reader Service Card

nni mmniMmvAVs shop i-8oo-42i-8oo6

more than just products...

Microsoft Windows SDK
by Microsoft Corp.

You're only as good as the tools
you use, so shouldn't you use the
new Microsoft Windows Software
Development Kit? The SDK is a
set of tools tailor-made to build
applicatons for Windows. It
indudes a CodeView debugger for
Windows, sophisticated analysis
tools and resource editors, and
extensive hard copy and online
documentation. There's only one
way to build Windows applications,
and thaf s with the SDK. What
else would you expect from the
people who brought you Windows?
UST: $500 PS Price: $3«S
FastFaxts 502-072

3>-

OPEN ACCESS III
by Software Products Intl.
Turn your ideas into market-ready
applications in just weel^s with
Open Access llll Easily edit, run,
and debug your programs in the
integrated programming
environment. Get data entry and
report forms and support for
windowing, light-bar menus, and
3-D graphics to make creating your
applications a snapl Open
architecture with a C language
interface lets you add change or
add features. And Open Access
even has its own compilerl
UST: $695 PS Price: $489
FastFaxts 1759-007

WATCOM C 8.0/386 Prof,
by WATCOM

WATCOM C 8.0/386 is 100% ANSI
C optimizing compiler/runtime
library for Intel's 80386 architec-
ture, generating applications for
32-bit protect mode. Features
include: protected mode version of
the compiler; VIDEO full-screen
source-level debugger; MS library-
& source-compatibility; execution
profiler; high performance linker;
graphics library; supports
MetaWare High C 386 runtime
calling conventions; SAA
compatible.

UST: $1295 PS Price: $1155
FastFaxts 1044-005

EDT+

by Boston Business Computing
EDT+ 5.0, the only complete
emulation of DIGITAL'S VAX EDT,
is 50% faster than Its predecessor
and features multiple windows,
interfaces for EVE, EMACS, vi
and WPS, 1 32-column mode,
status line and ruler, keystroke
macros and much more. 30-day,
money-back guarantee and free
customer support and updates for
60 days. For MS-DOS and UNIX
systems.

UST: $295 PS Price: $279

FastFaxts 342-001

Tom Rettig's Libfary

85

UI2 Developer's Release

479

DEBUGGERS/

DISASSEMBLERS

DASM

225

Dis Doc Pro

229

Multiscope for DOS

149

Periscope IV Varies

RE:Source by Genesoft

119

SoftProbe Se/TX

345

Souroer 486 w/BIOS pre-proc. 149

Trapper

189

DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

A Oft lt~l ^*ft#

ASMFLOW

89

C-DOC

139

CLEAR-t- for C

169

Codan

349

Buzzwords dANALYST

269

Xho rv%pi imontnr

245

INSIDEI

119

MKS Lex & Yacc

199

MKS RCS

175

PC-Lint

120

Plink^TO

439

PolyMake

159

PVCS Professional

439

ROM-Link

339

.RTLINK - by Pocket Soft

279

.RTLINK Plus

419

Source Print

97

TLIB

89

Zortech C++ Tools

Call

EDITORS

BRIEF

Call

Cheetah

195

Epsilon

119

KEDIT

139

QEditTSR

89

Sage Professional Editor

249

SPF/PC - V2.1

129

Vedit +

139

EXPERT SYSTEMS

Eclipse 386

560

Exsys Professional

695

Logic Gem by Sterling Castle

89

Personal Consultant Plus

1999

FILE ADD-ONS

Accsys for Paradox w/source 739

CBTREE

179

C-Data Manager

279

CodeBASE 4

279

CQL - w/ source

359

c-tree by Faircom - source

329

C-TRIEVE

229

db_FILE/RETRIEVE - SU

229

Faircom Toolbox Prof.

889

Faircom Toolbox Special

539

WKS Library

149

XOL

649

FORTRAN

FOR C w/source

789

Lahey FORTRAN F77L

549

Lahey Personal FORTRAN

Call

MS Fortran Opt. Compiler

309

RM/FORTRAN

499

GENERAL ADD-ONS

C Tools Rus - V6.01 98

C Utility Library 189

Greenleaf SuperFunctions 239

Opt-TechSort 119

Turbo C Tools by Blaise 1 09

GRAPHICS

Bar Code Library w/Source 369

Essential Graphics v3.0 349

Graphic 319

graphics-Menu 165

GSS Graphics DeVt Toolkit 525

Halo 279

HSC Sunscan 289

LaserControl 139

MetaWINDOWS 209

MetaWINDOW/PLUS 289

PCX Programmer's Toolkit 229

HARDWARE

Aegis 55

ALL Chargecard 399
Capital Equipment Corp.

OS/RAM32 OM 225

0S/RAM8 OM 299

OS/RAM4 0M 179

DigiCHANNEL C0M/8i 875

DigiCHANNEL MC/8i 949
DPT

SmartCache ST506 1099

SmartCache RLL 1099

SmartCache ESDI 1 099

Disk Mirroring Module 685
Emerson UPS

Model 10 UPS 169

Model 20 UPS 319

Model 40 UPS 699

AccuCard 209

AccuSaver 69

EtherCard Plus 239

EtherCard Plus/A 349

Erasable Optical Drive Call

Hardlock Kit by Glenco 369
irr Adv. Math Coprocessors

3C87-25 450

3C87-33 559

2C87-20 329

2C87-12 279
Intel Math Coprocessors

80387-25 555

80387-33 675

J T Fax 9600 595

KickStart I 179

KickStart II 399

KickStart III 689

LANStorLAN150S 1599

LaserStor WORM Drive 3295

Personal Modem 2400 179

QX/12K Modem 699

QXA/ .32c Modem 1349

Seagate ST-1 25-1 20M 299

Seagate ST-4096-1 80M 639

Seagate ST-251-1 40M 339
SentinelScout(kitof lOkeys) 265

SpeedStor AT 320S 1 999

Smartmodem 2400 (Ext.) 359

The Shadow SVGA1 024K 31 9

VGA WONDER 512K 359

Circle 391 on Reader Service Card

mil vimmMmm}^ shop i-80o<42i-8006

The Programmer's Shop is

c-

by

Worthy Interface Library

Solution Systems
Create a clear, high quality user
interface with minimal overhead to
your code. Benefit from 400 tight,
ready-to-use functions for
Windows, Menus, Text Editing,
Message System, Mouse Support,
Help and much more.
cwARCHITECT is included to let
you interactively design and test
forms without coding. Best of all
it's flexible to your needs, providing
high level functions for immediate
results, yet power and functionality
for the long-term.

UST; $399 PS Price: $3S9

FastFttxis 732-095

NETWORKS

dBXlAAN 519

Btrieve Dev. Kit 479

Netware SQL 519

Netware C Interface 239

OBJECT-ORIENTED/C++

Intek C++ 80386 469

SmalltalkA/ 85

SmalltalkA/-286 185

Turbo C++ 159

Turbo C ++ Prof. 259

Zinc Interface Library 179

Zortech C ++ w/ source 269

Zortech C++ Debugger 150

Zortech C ++ Dev. Edition 399

OS SUPPORT

DESQview
OS/286

109
589

OTHER LANGUAGES

Logitech's Modula-2 Dev. Syst.229
RPG II Dev. Systems 1469
TopSpeed Modula-2 189
StonyBrookProf. Modula-2 249

OTHER PRODUCTS

Carbon Copy Plus 159

Dan Bricklin's PageGarden 89

Fasti 89

File Shuttle 109

Flow Charting III 199

HEADROOM 89

HiJaak 139

LapLlnklll 129
Link & Locate ++ - ROM MSC 349

Math Advantage 475

Norton Utilities 5.0 149

pcANYWHERE III 129

PC Tools Deluxe 6.0 119

PC-KWIK Power Pak 119

Pre Cursor 96

Remote2 139

SplnRite II 89

Systat & Sygraph Combo 839

System Sleuth 89
The Duplicator Toolkit-Pro 3.0 119

Tlme$heet Prof. 135

TURBO PASCAL

Turbo ASYNCH PLUS 119
Turbo Pascal 5.5 by Borland 109
Turbo POWER TOOLS PLUS 98

Turbo Professional

109

TEXT SCREEN ADD-ONS

AEWINDOS 459

C Communications Toolkit 1 29

C Worttiy w/Forms w/ARCH 359

Greenleaf DataWindows 339

HI-SCREEN XL Professional 289

ME WEL Window System 1 69

POWER SCREEN by Blaise 99

Vitamin C - source, menus 169

VC Screen - painter 119

Vermont Views Obj. + source 819

UNDWCENIX

C++ Compiler for Unix 386

by Zortech 439
C++ for Unix by

SCO of Canada 829

Computer Innovations C++ 469

db_FILE/RETRIEVE SU 569

Edix - editor 409

EDT+ for Xenix 386 275
ESIX Systems

ESIXA/ 386 Dev. (2 user) 569

ESIXA/ 386 Dev. unltd 769

Guidelines C++ tor 386 V2.0 479
Informix SQL Varies
Interactive Systems

Architect Wrksm Platform 1 1 99

Architect Wrkstn Developer 1850

Norton Utilities tor Unix 279

Oregon C++ by Oregon SW 979

Recital Standard SU 699
WordTech Quicksilver Diamd. 839

XENIX 386 Dev. Sys. 689

WINDOWS & om

Actor 3.0 639

Brief tor OS/2 Call

Case: W 905

Case: PM (for C or C+++) 1469

C_talk/Views 419

C-Trieve/Windows 349

dBFAST/Windows 315

Graphics Server SDK 455

Instant Windows 895

KnowiedgePro Windows 589

MKS Toolkit 229

MS Windows 3.0 119
MS Windows Dev. Dr. Dev. Kit 365

MS Windows Soft. Dev. Kit 365

Multiscope OS/2 Debugger 375

BLINKER

by Blinkwc

'Fastest dynamic overlay linker for
Clipper Summer '87 and 5.0.
Automatically structures overtays
and reduces program memory
requirement by up to 50%.
Features incremental linking in
fractions of a second, dynamic
overlaying of C & ASM, source
code of Clipper profiler for
performance analysis, memory
defragmentation, "burning in' of
Clipper environment variables/
serial numbers and creation of
demo versions."
UST: $189 PS Price: $179
FasWeutt 937-001

dBXL

by WordTech

A superior alternative to dBASE,
dBXL relational database is an
easy to use interpretive environ-
ment adding extended language
(XL) features to the dBASE
language. It includes WordT ech
R&R Relational Report Writer, full
dBASE compatibility (files &
syntax), and special menus for first
time database builders. Also has
memory swapping, advanced
memo field handling, macros, true
windowing multi-dimensional
arrays, graphing and EMS support.
Requires 440K memory.
UST: $249 PS Price: $209

FastFaxts 971-003

ZORTECH C++ V2.1
UNIX 386 CompUer

by Zortech, Inc.

Zortech's C++ V2.1 386 compiler
tor UNIX makes it easy to port
applications among DOS, DOS
386, OS/2, and SCO UNIX 386.
With the same tight, fast, globally
optimized code of the DOS and
OS/2 versions, the compiler takes
full advantage of the 386.
Included is an ANSI/UNIX/Zortech
C++ compatible library.
UST: $500 PS Price: $439

FastFaxts 1108-045

Clarion Prof. Dev 2.1

by Clarion Software

A powerful, easy-to-use DBMS
application developer, can cut
development time by 50%.
Importyexports dBase, BASIC,
and DIF files; interfaces with
routines from C and Assembler.
Includes Report Writer tor creating
ad-hoc reports and queries. Built-
in LAN support: no mn-time
system required for distribution.
Recent winner of PCWeek poll of
corporations using programmable
databases.

UST Price: $845 PS Price $549
FastFaxts 1005-004

THE PlUMJll/IMMEl^S $

1-800-421-8006

your source for solutions!

LOTUS MAGELLAN 2.0

by Lotus Development Corp.
Lotus Magellan 2.0 Is the fastest
way to organize and use PC
information. It combines the most
requested utilities in an easy-to-
use package. Magellan 2.0 works
the way you do, focusing on the
information in your files rather than
the files themselves. A simple,
powerful viewing environment lets
you look at the contents of a file
right alongside its name-without
loading the application that created
it. And this Includes word
processing files, spreadsheets,
databases, graphic files, and more.
UST:$139 PS Price: $119
FastFaxts 1917-012

Greenleaf Comm Library

by Greenleaf Software

The Greenleaf Comm Library Is an
asynchronous communications
library w/ interrupt-driven, circular
buffered service for up to thirty-
five ports. Features Include:
Modem control functions,
XMODEM, YMODEM, & KERMIT
protocol support; XON/XOFF &
RTS/CTS flow control & security
against data loss. CommLib™
offers support up to 1 15Kbaud.
Included free; source and
PDQPIus Online Help System.
Supports all major compilers.
UST: $359 PS Price: $329

FastFaxts SS-007

RYBS HI386 Complete

by RYBS Electronics, Inc.
RAM cram is eliminated In all DOS
computers with AMS memory
managers by providing up to 928K
off conventional DOS memory.
Move networks, TSRs, device
drivers and DOS utilities out of
conventional memory to give full
_^se of 640K. Run large

applications in a LAN environment
without memory intrusion from the
network. Compatible with all 386s
and can be used on 286s with
EMS boards on C+T chip sets.
For PC, XT, AT, 386 and PS/2
MIcto Channel computers.
UST: $100 PS Price: $89
FastFaxts 808-002

Clipper 5.0

by Nantucket Corp.

Clipper's open ardnitecture lends
unprecendented freedom to
application development. Its
language is fully extensible with
user-<Jefined functions and new
user-defined commands. You can
extend the language with routines
written in Clipper itself, or integrate
code from other languages like C,
Assembler, dBASE*and Pascal.
Develop applications larger than
available memory, without defining
overlays. Clipper's compiler
generates stand-alone, executable
files for cost-free, unrestricted
distribution.

UST: $795 PS Price: $SSO

FastFaxts 1139-003

THK

PUOGILIMMEIIS SHOP
OATAMMi is the definitive
source book for serious software
development professionals.

Over 1,700 development products listed, including:
• applications

' books/ training
' communications
' hardware

• languages
•LANs

• libraries

' operating systems

< tools

< UNIX /XENIX

< utilities

Call today for this
valuable guide to
programming productivity.

What is FastFaxts?

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Credit card orders processed only when product is shij^jed. All prices subject to change. Litl prices wiU vary. BY1 1 90

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The ALR MPS:
Modular Micro Channel

Advanced Logic Research
gambles that it can
take a byte out of
the True Blue market

■

Stan Miastkowski

162 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

PAUL AVIS © 1990

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Just when you thought you had a
handle on all those computer
terms, here's another acronym for
you: MPS. It stands for Modular
Personal System, and it's Advanced
Logic Research's latest PC incarnation
on the way to that ever-elusive system
nirvana.

ALR has carved out a solitary and
comfortable nitch for itself with well-
built systems notable for their easy-to-
upgrade processor cards. It started off
last year with the 286-based PowerFlex
and kept the industry hopping earlier this
year with the PowerVEISA, a 386-based
machine with the Extended Industry
Standard Architecture (EISA) bus.

With "Logic" in your corporate moni-
ker, I guess you make logical business
decisions. So it's no surprise that the lat-
est ALR machine has taken the "logical"
step of jumping headfirst into the Micro
Channel market. The ALR MPS is es-
sentially a nicely built PS/2 clone (see
photo 1) that offers several features that
Big Blue's entries do not, such as truly
easy upgrade. A basic MPS unit comes
equipped with a 33-MHz 386. Want
more power later? No problem. All you
need to do is pull the 386 CPU board out
of its proprietary slot and plug in an i486
(either 25 or 33 MHz) (see photo 2).
Once you get the case off, the whole pro-
cess takes about 30 seconds. And unlike
the processor upgrade schemes that other
manufacturers have opted for, ALR's re-
quires no change of software or BIOS
ROM upgrade. It's truly plug and play.

Riding the Micro Channel

Of course, other ALR systems upgrade
in the same way. So what's the point of
the MPS? Mainly, the Micro Channel.
While the folks at IBM probably aren't
quaking in their collective wingtips over
ALR's Micro Channel entry, ALR has
frosted the competitive cake with lots of
sweet goodies, especially for the steely-
eyed bean counters of the bottom line.
Stripped MPS systems start at lowball

prices— $1995 with no hard disk drive or
graphics. And there's a well-chosen se-
lection of upgrade options. For example,
a 33-MHz 386-based MPS with a 16K-
byte static RAM cache, an 80-megabyte
hard disk drive, a Super VGA card, and a
14-inch color monitor costs about $4500.
That's nearly half the price of a compara-
bly equipped IBM PS/2.

ALR's entry is a compact 6 by 15 by
17 inches, weighing in at about 35
pounds. The motherboard in the prepro-
duction MPS that I looked at still had
hand- wired patches, but careful layout
and construction were evident. Packing
all this circuitry into a small case isn't a
trivial undertaking, and it requires sur-
face-mount fabrication techniques. ALR
has used the Intel Micro Channel chip set
and has ended up with considerably more
expansion space than you find in the
PS/2s. The MPS has a total of eight ex-
pansion slots (versus three in a compara-
ble PS/2). Two of these are proprietary
ALR slots, but there are four 16-bit and
two 32-bit Micro Channel slots.

The World Gets Smaller

ALR has also opted for a semimodular
case layout. As with a true PS/2, you pop
out a few plastic buttons, and the drive
bays lift off. But you still need to fiddle
with cable connectors. And speaking of
drives, ALR has also decided to emulate
the PS/2 approach of eschewing 5 14 -inch
drives. You have a choice: Take 3 '/2-inch
drives or leave them. Period. But there's
lots of room for them: space for four
half-height units on the front panel, and
room for two 3!/2-inch hard disk drives
(mounted vertically) inside the case.

COMPANY INFORlMllUlsiM

Advanced Logic Research, Inc.

9401 Jeronimo
Irvine, CA 92718
(800) 444-4257
(415)581-6770
Inquiry 1081.

Despite all the circuitry crammed onto
the MPS's motherboard (including an
Intelligent Drive Electronics hard disk
drive interface), there's plenty of room
for expansion. A basic MPS comes with
1 MB of surface-mounted RAM on the
motherboard. Add 256K-byte, 1-MB, or
4-MB single in-line memory modules to
the four on-board sockets, and you can
upgrade to 2, 5, or 17 MB in one fell
swoop. Still not enough for you? Add an
ALR 32-bit RAM card (that takes up to
22 MB), and you end up with a total sys-
tem capacity of 49 MB.

Adding Processing Power

At press time, the cost of upgrading an
MPS machine to a 486/25 was pegged at
$1995; moving up to a 486/33 was a wal-
let-clearing $3195. But that's likely to
change quickly; 486/25 s are becoming
more available, while 486/33s are likely
to be hard to come by for some time.
ALR also offers a trade-in rebate for pro-
cessor modules. The rebate varies as the
market changes, so check with the com-
pany for the latest details.

Those who are truly power (or is that
status?) hungry can equip the MPS with
a high-end TMS34010-based graphics

PRELIMINARY BYTE LOW-LEVEL BENCHMARK SCORES

We tested the ALR MPS with three different plug-in processor modules.
Although its CPU results were on the low side of competing machines (and the
video results were usually fast), note that the ALR was a prototype and the
final production versions may (and probably will) differ.

CPU

FPU

Disk I/O

Video

ALR MPS 386/33

4.83

14.35

1.61

11.77

ALR MPS 486/25

5.07

24.73

2.63

13.52

ALR MPS 486/33

6.82

32,98

2.68

17.13

ALR PowerVEISA 386/33

9.69

37.03

3.48

4.02

Compaq Deskpro 386/33

6.09

15.50

2.90

4.53

AST Premium 486/33

8.21

37.10

N/A

3.40

Cheetah Gold 33 (486/25)

6.52

21.49

9.49

5.57

Note: Benchmark results are indexed to show relative performance; higher numbers indicate t^etler performance.
Faallindexes, an 8-MHz IBM PC AT running MS-DOS 3.30=1.

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 163

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
THE ALR MPS

Photo 1: The ALR MPS

is highly modular,
although not to the
extent of the IBM PS/2
series, with
which it directly
competes. The drive bays
detach with three pop-up
plastic buttons, giving you
easy access to the
motherboard.

Photo 2: You can upgrade ALR 's CPU module (the 486/25 with a Weitek socket is
shown here) in about 5 minutes. You don 't need to upgrade the software or firmware.

processor that emulates the 8514/A
($3300 with a 15-inch monitor; $5300
with a 21-inch monitor). And if the MPS
is going to see duty as a network file
server, there's a 330-MB hard disk drive
that will add $2100 to the system price.

Mass Transportation

EISA? Industry Standard Architecture
(formerly the AT bus)? Micro Channel
architecture? Sometimes I feel like a
confused commuter trying to decide
which bus to take. An ALR spokesper-
son told me that ISA is essentially dead.
That's an understandable statement on
the company's part, because it wants to
sell lots of EISA and Micro Channel ma-
chines. But ISA-based systems are far
from obsolete, especially since the high-
bandwidth, multiprocessing promises of
both EISA and Micro Channel remain
largely a dream. Many more add-in
boards are available for the Micro Chan-
nel than for the EISA bus, but most are
simple repackages of ISA products that
offer little (or, more often, nothing) in
the way of increased performance.

That situation will change, of course;
and ALR is in a particularly good posi-
tion to be a strong contender as the PC
market eases leisurely toward high-
power processors and high-bandwidth
buses— complementary technologies that
are just plain made for each other. The
ability to upgrade your PC's processor in
the future remains an intriguing one.
(There will be an 1586 one of these days.)

If you're considering going for a bus
upgrade, the choice between EISA and
Micro Channel is a somewhat thornier
issue. Except for ever-true, ever-blue
IBM users. Micro Channel-bus PCs
haven't taken off since their introduction
some 2'/2 years ago. Other non-IBM
Micro Channel machines, such as those
made by NCR, Reply, Tandy, and Wang,
have largely been rolled out so that the
companies can tout their "complete
lines" to Big Corporate Buyers. I have a
hunch that the ALR MPS is very much
the same.

The MPS is well designed and well
built, and it shows a high degree of engi-
neering expertise and sophistication. But
for the time being, its user base is likely
to be confined to large companies who
specify Micro Channel yet are looking
for a lower-priced (and upgradable) al-
ternative. While EISA and Micro Chan-
nel slug it out, ALR can profitably work
both sides of the street. ■

Stan Miastkowski is the BYTE senior edi-
tor for new products. He can be reached
on BIX as "stanm. "

164 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

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CompuAdd 325 Features:

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(8MHz, and 25MHz)

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■ Dual diskette drive controller

■ Dual IDE hard drive interface

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slots

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■ 5.25" 1.2MB or 3.5" 1.44MB diskette
drive

■ 80MB hard drive

■ Three 16-bit and two 8-bit expansion
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■ Base System Price: $4995 (66652)

CompuPdd '

Customer driven, by design.™

12303 Technology, Austin, Texas 78727

Telex:
Fax:

Technical Support:
Outside US:
Canada:
Mexico;

United Kingdom:
Germany:

763543 COMPUADD AUS
512-335-6236
800-999-9901
512-258-5575
800-387-3266
95-800-010-0401
0800-373535
0130-6009

We accept MasterCard, VISA, money oiden. certified checks and personal checks (please allow n. „...

institutional purchase orders (miniinum initial purchase $500, thereafter $50). Sna wre iransfers. Please add 2% to an purchases for shipping and handlinE(m:
S3, shipping outside the continental United States will increase cost). Add 8% for shipping and handling to APO.'FPO addresses (minimum $10). AZ, CO, CT. [
IL. IN.TG. U, MA, MD, Ml, MN. MO. NC, NE. NJ, NM. NT, OH. OK, PA, RI, SC. TS. fx. liT, VA and Wl residents, please add appropri; - - - -
y-backguara — ---i--' . — 1_, — , ^ j __c s

idays for processing!, CODs iS50 minimum order), company and

). Add 8% for shipping and handling to APO.'FPO addresses ( minimum $10). AZ, CO, CT. DC, FL, GA,
:, PA, RI, SC. TS. TX. UT, VA and Wl residents, please add appropriate local sales tax. Thirtv-day
■e does not include return freight or shipping and handling. Opened software, videotapes, other consumables and shipping costs are nonrefundable,
it be accompanied bv a return merchandise authorization (RMA) number. Prices and product descriptions are subject to change without notice.
CompuAdd is not liable for damage due to omissions or typographical errors. Call 8(X)-666-1872 for a copy of CompuAdd's complete warranty.

If You Discovered
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We Bet You'd

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Powered by a 16MHz 386SX microprocessor,
the 316sL sports a fast (28ms) 40MB hard drive
and a 3.5" floppy drive and a crisp advanced-
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You can use the versatile 316sl as a powerful
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When you require a standard 101-key key-
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386SX microprocessor rated at 16MHz
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0 wait-state page-mode memory
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Dedicated 80387SX math coprocessor socket
Built-in serial, parallel printer, e.xtemal
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85-key keyboard with 101-key emulation,
12 function keys and 4 cursor keys
fifEE CompuAdd serial mouse
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Base System Price: S2895 (62202)

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Customer driven, by design.™

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CompuAdd 325

CompuAdd's 325 gives you
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diskette drive

■ Dual diskette drive controller

■ Dual IDE hard drive interface

■ Six 16-bit and two 8-bit expansion
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■ Parallel port and two serial ports

■ Real-time clock/calendar

■ FREE CompuAdd serial mouse

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■ FREE CompuAdd MS-DOS 4.01

■ FREE one-year onsite service

■ Base System Price: $1695(64834)

CompuAdd 316s and
320s Features:

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316s: running at 16MHz (8, 16MHz)
320s: running at 20MHz (7, 20MHz)

■ 1MB DRAM expandable to 4MB

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diskette drive

■ Dual diskette drive controller

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U 316s Base Price: $1195(64787)

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CALL TODAY! or
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800-456-6008

Hours: Monday - Friday 7:00am to 9:00pm GST; Saturday 9:00afn to 5:00pm GST

CompuPdd '

Customer driven, by design™

12303 Technology, Austin, Texas 78727

Telex:
Fax:

Technical Support:
Outside US:
Canada:
Mexico:

United Kingdom:
Germany:

763543 COMPUADD .^lUS
512-335-6236
800-999-9901
512-258-5575
800-387-3266
95-800-010-0401
0800-373535
0130-6009

We accept MasterCard. VISA, money orders, certified checks and persoral checks (please allow ten da>-s for processing!, CODs (S50 minimum order I, company and
institutional purchase orders (minimum Initial purchase SSOO. thereafter ISO), and wire transfers. Please add 2% to all purchases forshippmg and handling (minimum 13.
shipping outside the continental United States will increase cost). Add 8% for shipping and handling to APO/FPO addresses (minimum $!0). .A2, CO, CT, DC, FL, OA, IL.
IN, is. LA, MA, MD. Ml, MN, MO, NO, NE, NJ, KM, NY, OH, OK. PA, Rl. SC, TN, TX, IJT, VA and Wl residents, please add appropriate loca! sales tax. Thinv-day money-
back guarantee does not Include return freight or shipping and handling. Opened software, videotapes, other consumables ancf shipping costs are nonrefundable. .All return
Items must be accompanied by a return merchandise authorization (RMAl number. Prices and produa descriptions are subjea to change without notice. Compu.Add is not
liable for damage due to omissions or ivpographical errors. Call 800-666-1872 for a copy of CompuAdd's complete warrant\-.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Fast New Systems
from NeXT

In addition to considerable fanfare
and praise, the original NeXT
Computer received a fair share of
criticism. It had been faulted for its
lack of color options, high price, a per-
ceived lack of performance, and— most
often— its lack of a floppy disk drive.
With the new NeXT systems that were in-
troduced in September, NeXT has built
on its past achievements and addressed
the majority of these weaknesses.

NeXT now has a product line that fea-
tures the new 68040 microprocessor run-
ning at 25 MHz, an MS-DOS-compatible
2.88-megabyte floppy disk drive, a new
"slim-case" desktop model that retails
for the relatively low price of $4995, and
color options due out early next year.

According to NeXT's numbers, the
68040 has a performance rating of ap-
proximately 15 million instructions per
second and 2.8 million float-
ing-point operations per sec-
ond (MFLOPS), about three
times faster than the 68030
used in the original NeXT
Computer. The 68040 also in-
cludes memory management
and floating-point coproces-
sors on the main chip.

When the NeXT Computer
was introduced in 1988, one
of its primary features was an
erasable 256-MB optical disk
drive, which Steve Jobs touted
as the floppy disk drive of the
nineties, allowing users to
"take their whole world in
their backpacks." But the op-
tical drive has proved to be
too slow for use as a main
storage device, and the car-
tridges are too expensive for
use as a data-exchange medi-
um: No one wants to send a
file on a $50 storage medium.
In addition, the price of the
optical cartridges jacks up the
price of third-party software.
Nevertheless, the optical

The new NeXT systems
sport lower price tags,
more speed,
and a long-sought
floppy disk drive

Nick Baran and
Owen Linderholm

Photo 1:

Unlike the original NeXT Computer, the new Nextstation
Color features a slim-case, or "pizza-box, " system unit.
Inside is a powerful 68040 processor and 12 MB of RAM.

drive is excellent as a backup device and
will be offered as an option for that
purpose.

The floppy disk drive of the nineties is
now the good old 3 '/2-inch drive, but
with an increased capacity of 2.88 MB
and the capability to read and write files
in 1 .44-MB and 720K-byte MS-DOS for-
mats. This floppy disk drive is now stan-
dard equipment on all NeXT machines
and will be the primary medium for the
distribution of software and data. The
new NextStep operating-system software
automatically mounts the floppy disk and
displays its files in the system's Direc-
tory Browser. In addition, the software
supports CD-ROM drives (see the text
box "A New Version of NextStep" on
page 167).

While the new 2.88-MB drive cannot
read and write Macintosh-formatted
files directly, the high-den-
sity floppy disk drive (Super-
Drive) available on Macin-
toshes can convert to MS-
DOS format; thus, Macintosh
file compatibility should not
be a big problem.

NeXT's system boards now
include a twisted-pair 10-
Base-T Ethernet port, as well
as the thin Ethernet port that
is on the current system
board. Another change is the
use of the 50-pin SCSI-2 stan-
dard rather than the older 25-
pin SCSI standard. SCSI-2
offers greater reliability and
faster transfer rates than does
standard SCSI. SCSI-2 is
backward compatible so that
existing SCSI devices can be
attached using a cable adapt-
er. The new system boards
also support parity memory
checking, a feature that has
been requested by scientific
and engineering users.

It should be noted that the
new system board still uses

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF NEXT, INC. © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 165

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
FAST NEW SYSTEMS FROM NEXT

the Motorola 56001 digital signal proces-
sor, despite speculation that the new
machine would have the 96002 DSP, a
successor to the 56001 that includes
floating-point capability. NeXT says that
the 96002 isn't currently fully backward
compatible with software for the 56001.
However, NeXT has added a single in-
line memory module socket for up to
192K bytes of memory addressable by
the DSP.

The Nextstation Pizza Box

The new Nextstation is clearly NeXT's
answer to the SPARCstation. Made from
magnesium with a cosmetic plastic
shroud, the slim-case, or "pizza-box,"
system unit is about 15 inches square and
2 inches thick, and it sits under the sys-
tem's display. The system board is slight-
ly larger than the original NeXT system
board; the two are not interchangeable.
The board includes two serial ports, a
display port, the SCSI-2 port, and both
thin and lOBase-T Ethernet ports. The
Nextstation is cooled by a virtually silent
"whisper fan" that passes air over heat-
dissipating fins built into the bottom of
the case. These lie directly under the
power supply— a major heat source. The
power supply is a 120- watt unit that uses
a new technology called "parallel reso-
nance switching," which allows a much
smaller form factor than conventional
power supplies.

THE FACTS

Nextstation

with 8 MB of RAM, 105-MB hard
disk drive, 2.88-MB floppy disk
drive, and 17-inch monochrome
display, $4995

Nextculje

with 8 MB of RAM, 105-MB hard
disk drive, 2.88-MB floppy disk
drive, and 17-inch monochrome
display, $7995

Nextstation Color

with 12 MB of RAM, 105-MB hard
disk drive, 2.88-MB floppy disk
drive, and 16-inch color display,
$7995

Nextdimension

with 8 MB of RAM, $3995

NeXT, Inc.

900 Chesapeake Dr.
Redwood City, CA 94063
(415) 366-0900
Inquiry 1066.

Nextstation is a
welcome addition to the
NeXT product line.

The Nextstation comes standard with
8 MB of memory (expandable to 32 MB),
a 105-MB hard disk drive, and the 2.88-
MB floppy disk drive. With the 17-inch
black-and-white MegaPixel display, this
system costs $4995. A reduced version of
the operating system is shipped installed
on the 105-MB hard disk drive and takes
up about 75 MB on the disk, including 16
MB of swap space required for virtual
memory mapping by the operating sys-
tem. Unless connected to a network file
server, a system with the 105 -MB drive
will require an additional hard disk drive
for storing much third-party software
and data. An internal 340-MB hard disk
drive is available as an option instead of
the 105-MB drive, in which case the sys-
tem costs $6995, a rather hefty price in-
crease for an added 235 MB of storage.

The Nextstation is a welcome addition
to the NeXT product line. It is ideal for
end users who don't need the storage or
expansion capabilities of the NeXT Com-
puter. The Nextstation was supposed to
begin shipping in October.

A New Cube

The other new NeXT system is the Next-
cube, the familiar cube but with a floppy
disk drive instead of an optical drive, and
space for one half-height and one full-
height storage device (either two hard
disk drives or a hard disk drive and a CD-
ROM or optical drive). The 105-MB and
340-MB drives are half-height devices,
while the 660-MB and 1 .4-gigabyte units
are full-height devices.

The Nextcube system board has the
same features as the Nextstation system
board, including parity memory and the
SCSI-2 and lOBase-T ports, but memory
can be expanded on-board to 64 MB. An
8-MB system with the 2.88-MB floppy
disk drive, the 105-MB hard disk drive,
and the 17-inch monochrome display
costs $7995. The 340-MB drive option
boosts the price to $9995. The Nextcube
was scheduled to ship in September.

Color Options

NeXT will offer two "color solutions": a
low-end system for business applica-

tions, presentation graphics, and two-di-
mensional CAD, and a high-end system
for scientific imaging, professional
graphics production, 3-D modeling, and
so forth.

At the low end will be a color version
of the Nextstation with 16-bit-per-pixel
color, allowing 4096 colors on-screen
simultaneously (12 bits for color and a
4-bit "alpha channel" for specifying
transparency). At the high end will be an
add-in board with 32-bit color, its own
graphics processor, and a processor for
compressing and decompressing graph-
ics images, allowing 16 million colors
on-screen simultaneously (24 bits for
color and an 8-bit alpha channel for spec-
ifying transparency).

The Nextstation Color

The Nextstation Color (see photo 1) is the
same slim-case machine as the Nextsta-
tion, except that it supports 16-bit color.
It comes standard with 12 MB of RAM
and 2 MB of video memory. NeXT in-
creased the memory bandwidth some-
what on this model to improve video per-
formance. The Nextstation Color is
designed for use with NeXT's new color
Megapixel display, which is a 16-inch
Sony Trinitron display with 1120- by
832-pixel resolution (the same resolution
as the black-and-white display). The 12-
MB system with the color display, a 105-
MB hard disk drive, and the 2.88-MB
floppy disk drive will cost $7995. As
with the Nextstation, an additional hard
disk drive will be necessary unless the
system has access to a network file
server.

The Nextstation Color does not re-
quire NeXT's color Megapixel display.
By purchasing NeXT's ColorConnect
adapter, you can connect any size color
display that is capable of showing images
in the correct resolution. The ColorCon-
nect adapter provides the sound and
speaker functions that are normally built
into the MegaPixel display. Pricing for
the ColorConnect adapter was not avail-
able at the time of this writing, but a
Nextstation Color without a monitor will
cost $4995. There is no upgrade path be-
tween the black-and-white Nextstation
machine and the Nextstation Color. Un-
fortunately, the Nextstation Color will
not ship until early 1991 .

Upgrading Existing Cubes

As NeXT announced several months
ago, current NeXT users will be able to
obtain a 68040 upgrade for their NeXT
Computers for $1495. This will involve
swapping the 68030 system board for the
new 68040 system board. NeXT has also

166 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
FAST NEW SYSTEMS FROM NEXT

A New Version of NeXTStep

In conjunction with the new
hardware in its product
line, NeXT is providing a
major upgrade to its operat-
ing-system software. Next-
Step 2.0 includes support for
the new hardware compo-
nents, such as the 2.88-mega-
byte floppy disk drive, CD-
ROM drive, color display,
and lOBase-T Ethernet, as
well as a host of improve-
ments to the interface and de-
velopment environment.

To accommodate the com-
paratively small 105-MB
hard disk drive that is stan-
dard on all the Nextstation
models, NeXT has split Next-
Step into two versions: release
2.0 and release 2.0 Extended.

The extended version in-
cludes all the current develop-
er's tools, such as the Appli-
cation Kit and the Interface
Builder, as well as some new
enhancements aimed at appli-
cation developers. However,
neither version will include
Mathematica, Common Lisp,

or the Sybase database man-
ager. Release 2.0, a reduced
version of NextStep, does not
include the Interface Builder
or the Application Kit, and it
has a reduced version of Web-
ster's Ninth New Collegiate
Dictionary without the illus-
trations or the full text index.
The reduced version also has
fewer demonstration pro-
grams and does not include
the Shakespeare plays or The
Oxford Dictionary of Quota-
tions.

NeXT may find that most
customers want the extended
version and opt for a larger
hard disk than the 105-MB
unit. However, for networked
users who have access to a file
server, the reduced version
simply reduces the local stor-
age requirements. In any
case, release 2.0 and release
2.0 Extended are functionally
equivalent so that users will
be able to move to the ex-
tended version simply by in-
stalling a larger disk capacity
and copying the missing files.

An Improved Interface

NextStep 2.0 addresses sev-
eral major weaknesses of re-
lease 1.0. Of particular im-
portance, the Workspace is
now multithreaded so that file
operations such as copying
and moving can be done in the

background, allowing the
user to continue working on
other tasks.

The printing interface has
also been redesigned to oper-
ate at a lower priority so that
the screen doesn't lock during
print operations. The trade-
off is slower printing perfor-
mance in exchange for a live
screen. In addition, the print-
er interface now includes an
option for sending fax docu-
ments. If you have a fax mo-
dem, you can fax anything
that can be printed by simply
clicking on the new Fax op-
tion in the Print menu.

The Workspace has re-
ceived some cosmetic changes
in release 2.0. The Directory
Browser has been redesigned
and now includes a "shelf at
the top of the browser window
where users can place fre-
quently used files and folders.
The Browser also includes a
new window that shows the
"icon history," or status, of
applications and folders that
are in use. Clicking on an icon
in the window displays the
path of the file or the folder
graphically in the Directory
Browser. The icon history
window replaces the icon well
n the current Directory
Browser.

The Mail application has
been improved in release 2.0.
Mail now includes an archive
facility for storing mail mes-
sages. A return receipt func-
tion has been added, as well
as support for sending mail to
recipients with non-NeXT
systems that require a stan-
dard font, wrapped lines, and
carriage returns for 80-col-
umn text. Release 2.0 in-

cludes spelling checking and
rulers built into the Text Ob-
ject, so that these features are
now supported in Mail.

The development environ-
ment has been improved in re-
lease 2.0 and includes support
for color. A new object called
the Color Picker works simi-
larly to the font panel and
allows you to select and mix
colors. The window server
supports frame buffers of dif-
ferent size and depth to ac-
commodate the use of third-
party color monitors. NeXT
plans to support the Render-
Man scene-description lan-
guage for three-dimensional
rendering in a future release
of NextStep, due early next
year.

Release 2.0 supports loada-
ble device drivers, allowing
developers to create custom
applications for peripherals
like video and sound equip-
ment and special-purpose dis-
play and output devices. All
text objects now automati-
cally include a spelling
checker and rulers.

Other new features include
an improved MIDI driver thai
supports arbitrary sampling
rates and PostScript compos-
ite fonts, a feature of Adobe's
PostScript level 2. Composite
fonts allow support for kanji
and other alphabets.

Availability and Upgrades

NeXT was optimistically hop-
ing to have release 2.0 ready
in September. At press time ii
was still not finished, but
NeXT was confident it would
be ready in time. In any event,
the new machines won't run
without it, so completion is a
top priority.

The system software will
be shipped preinstalled on
hard disks, relieving the user
of the time-consuming Build
Disk operation. Current users
of release 1 .0 will be able to
upgrade to 2.0 on an optical
drive for $195, which in-
cludes new manuals.

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 167

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
FAST NEW SYSTEMS FROM NEXT

Photo 2:

The Nextdimension board provides
the Nextcube with high-performance color graphics. On the board is
an Intel i860 RISC processor,
4 MB of video RAM, and room for
up to 32 MB of memory.

contracted with a third-party supplier to
provide an external 2.88-MB floppy disk
drive for current NeXT Computer own-
ers. Pricing and availability of the floppy
disk drive have not been announced as of
this writing, but, according to sources at
NeXT, it will be available within the next
couple of months.

To go along with all this new hard-
ware, NeXT is cutting the price of its
high-resolution 400-dot-per-inch laser
printer almost in half. Originally selling
for a retail price of $3495, the printer is
now priced at $1795, representing a sub-
stantial reduction in the cost of a com-
plete NeXT system.

Doing Color Right

NeXT president Steve Jobs promised
from the beginning that NeXT would
eventually support color, but not until
it's "done right." And indeed, NeXT has
done color right. Using the PostScript
imaging model, color on the NeXT is de-
vice independent; in other words, appli-
cations written using color PostScript
specifications can be displayed on any
output device that supports PostScript,
whether it's a screen or a printer support-
ing black and white, gray scale, or vari-
ous resolutions of color.

In addition, PostScript offers excellent
performance in color. When you com-
pare Color QuickDraw on the Mac Ilfx
and color PostScript on a 68030-based
NeXT Computer, you find that screen re-
fresh and movement of color images are
much faster on the NeXT. And, unlike
with Apple's QuickDraw and TrueType
image and font models, there is no need

for conversion routines to display Post-
Script images on PostScript devices.

High-End Color:
The Nextdimension

NeXT's high-end color solution is an
add-in board called the Nextdimension
(see photo 2) . The board plugs into one of
the three NextBus slots in the NeXT
Computer, and it features Intel's i860
microprocessor, which is rated at 80
MFLOPS and offers high-speed graph-
ics processing. The board has 4 MB of
video memory, plus up to 32 MB of
RAM for increasing the display's win-
dowing capacity (i.e., the number of
windows that can be displayed on the
screen simultaneously).

In addition, the board includes the C-
Cube Microsystems CL550 image-com-
pression processor, which can compress
video and bit-mapped images in ratios of
up to 30 to 1 using the Joint Photographic
Experts Group image-compression algo-
rithm. The board supports NTSC and
SVideo (SuperVHS and High 8mm) im-
ages for both input and output, as well as
RGB color. One 640- by 480-pixel win-
dow can display live NTSC or SVideo
images. In conjunction with the C-Cube
image-compression processor, the live
window can display 30 frames per sec-
ond for true real-time motion video.

Like the Nextstation Color, the Next-
dimension supports the new color Mega-
Pixel display and, using the ColorCon-
nect adapter, third-party color displays.
The color display can run simultaneously
with the black-and-white MegaPixel dis-
play, allowing a contiguous work space

consisting of the two screens. Images or
text can be dragged from one screen to
the other as if the two screens made up a
single display. For intense graphics
users, up to three Nextdimension boards
can be installed in one NeXT Computer,
each with a separate monitor.

The Nextdimension will be priced
very competitively at $3995, which in-
cludes 8 MB of RAM. A complete color
system (a Nextcube with the color Mega-
Pixel display and the Nextdimension
board) will cost about $15,000, making
the system very competitive with similar
systems from Sun and Apple. The Next-
dimension should ship early in 1991.

High-Speed Color at a Low Cost

These new systems and the updated
NextStep software give NeXT a very
powerful, well-rounded, and extremely
competitive product line. The Nextsta-
tion system may now be the workstation
price/performance leader. A Nextstation
with a laser printer makes a powerful
desktop publishing setup.

But where NeXT has really taken a
lead is in the color arena. NeXT's deci-
sion to go with Display PostScript is pay-
ing off in a big way. The system has one
consistent model for both displaying and
printing. And, despite rumors to the con-
trary, its performance is outstanding.

The new NeXT systems are going to be
extremely competitive with high-end
desktop personal computers, especially
high-end Macintoshes. The products
will also compete well in the low-end
workstation market. And since educa-
tional establishments and developers
continue to get a 30 percent discount,
these systems will be even more competi-
tive in universities.

Perhaps the biggest task left to NeXT
is to persuade software vendors to write
programs for NeXT systems. But that is
changing, as Lotus and Ashton-Tate have
announced new spreadsheet programs in
conjunction with the new systems' intro-
duction in September. Lotus's spread-
sheet in particular shows why the NeXT
systems are so important. The program
is completely innovative in every way
and is pointing the way ahead for the fu-
ture of software and hardware— just like
the NeXT machines themselves are. ■

Nick Baran is a consulting editor for
BYTE and editor o/Baran's Tech Letter,
a newsletter covering the NeXT Com-
puter. He can be contacted on BIX as
"nickbaran. " Owen Linderholm is a
BYTE news editor based in San Francis-
co. He can be contacted on BIX as
"owenl. "

168 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

to speed i^^
power applications.
Tliere's just one m thing

Circle 177 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 178)

modem w

you can pay uif

standard pfi^^'

The price of our new 9600EX
makes the price other 9600bps
modems look, well, rather inflated.
Especially when you consider the
quality and features the 9600EX offers.

Features like V42bis, which compresses
data up to 400% and speeds throughput to up to
38.4Kbps (It's also downward-compatible with
MNP5). And Y42 LAP-M and MNP Level 1-4 error
control that detects when data is being garbled and
automatically retransmits-so you get error-free

communication. Or full-compliance with V32,
the industry standard 9600 modem protocol, as
well as downward compatibility' with 4800, 2400,
1200 and 300bps modems. The 9600EX also gives
you the option to operate on standard phone
lines or two-wire leased lines and offers both
synchronous and asynchronous transmission.

Fact is, at 1799, the 9600EX rivals the price
of high-end 2400 modems. Yet, it offers 16 times
the performance. Or in other words, more
modem for the money.

©Intel Corporation 1990.

And that added performance saves you
money, too. With the increase in throughput
speed, the 9600EX spends less time on the
phone so you spend less money on your phone
bill. You'll also spend less time waiting for it to
finish transmitting-and if time is money-you'U
save a bundle.

Plus, like our entire family of 2400 modems,
the 9600EX comes with a full, five-year warranty.
The new 9600EX modem: another example of
Intel's commitment to affordable quality For

more information or dealer near you, call:
800-538-3373. To have information faxed directly
to you, call: 800-525-3019 and request Doc.#9989.
And don't be swayed by those over-priced
modems, because with everything the 9600EX
offers for the money, you might say it just burst
their bubbles.

intel

Cinle 179 on Reader Sen/ice Card (RESELLERS: 180)

PRODUCT FOCUSi

SCSI Drives

Massive Storage
for Multiple Platforms

The BYTE Lab rates
high-capacity
hard disk drives for
DOS, Macintosh, NetWare,
and Unix applications

Steve Apiki, Stan Wszola,
Rick Grehan, and Tom Yager

Devotees of Macintoshes, Net-
Ware 386 file servers, single-
user DOS systems, and Unix
machines have something in
common; Sooner or later, they all see a
disk error message that means "insuffi-
cient space."

This month, the BYTE Lab looks at 15
high-speed, high-capacity hard disk
drives that offer relief from overcrowded
data. Along with new levels of perfor-
mance, the SCSI connector that these
drives share also promises easier up-
grades when a drive no longer seems as
roomy as it did in the showroom.

The SCSI bus protocol defines how pe-
ripherals talk to the host and to each
other. SCSI is fast— 4 megabytes per sec-
ond at the top end — and that is driving its
acceptance across the four major operat-
ing systems. But SCSI also lets you chain
drives together, so today's investment in
a 300-MB drive can be the foundation of
a larger system years down the road.

The BYTE Lab compared SCSI drives
with capacities of between 300 and 420
MB in configurations ranging from bare-
bones OEM systems to full plug-and-
play packages. We tested each in single
disk drive configurations under MS-
DOS, NetWare 386, Unix, and the Mac
OS (not all drives were compatible with

all operating systems). The text box
"How to Measure Drives Across Four
Operating Systems" on page 176 ex-
plains our benchmarks.

You're not likely to find the OEM
units from Fujitsu, Western Digital, and
Micropolis at your corner computer
store, but larger mail-order houses might
stock them. Their performance, how-
ever, provides a good point of compari-
son for retail products built around them.
Western Digital purchases its WD380 SC
drives from IBM, so the WD380 SC
should give a reasonable indication of
IBM's SCSI system performance.

Interface Heritage

SCSI controllers trace their lineage to
Shugart Technology's ST506 interface,
introduced by that company in 1980 to
support its 5-MB hard disk drive. ESDI,
which is more or less a direct descendant
of ST506, appeared in 1983 and offered
double the throughput rate of its ancestor.
More recently, the Intelligent Drive
Electronics (IDE) interface has grown in
popularity, because it requires less cir-
cuitry on the host, allowing engineers to
design smaller-footprint systems.

SCSI drives handle communications
between computer and disk drive at a
higher level. For example, when applica-
tions talk to a SCSI drive, they are un-
aware of the drive's configuration de-
tails, such as the number of cylinders,
heads, and sectors. The drive appears as
a collection of sequentially numbered
blocks. Thus, SCSI moves a substantial
amount of intelligence onto the drive.
Consequently, SCSI is far more flexible
than the other interfaces. (See the text
box "The Fuzzy Side of SCSI" on page
186.)

This doesn't mean that traditional
measures of performance— seek and ac-
cess times — are obsolete. The drive still
needs to physically seek the requested
tracks and wait for the requested sector
to come around. However, SCSI makes
some traditional benchmarks obsolete.

Timing track-to-track seeks and attempt-
ing to factor in seek latency is no longer
possible from an application perspective.

Since the drive's geometry can be hid-
den from the host computer, manufac-
turers can optimize controller electronics
for the drive itself without having to pass
any resulting customizations on to the
host. This lets a single host adapter talk
to a wide variety of drive types. Addi-
tionally, drive manufacturers can place
cache memory directly on the drive con-
troller; any system RAM that you might
have been using for a disk cache can go
back to running programs.

Points for SCSI

SCSI sports a few other features favored
by systems integrators and others who
are faced with rising disk space and per-
formance demands. First, SCSI easily
handles large-capacity drives. As an ex-
ample, the SCSI extended read command
accepts a 32-bit block number. Given a
block size of 5 12 bytes (the standard with
the drives we tested), a single disk drive
could hold 2 terabytes of data.

Second, multiple drives can be daisy
chained on the SCSI bus. This is handy
for network administrators, who can eas-
ily add drives as network users demand
more storage space. One SCSI bus can
accommodate eight devices: one host
computer and seven peripherals. Conse-
quently, the maximum number of drives
that you can hang off a single SCSI port
typically is seven. However, each device
on a SCSI bus can incorporate eight logi-
cal units, which in turn can incorporate
256 logical subunits.

Third, SCSI supports multiuser and
multitasking operating systems. Devices
on a SCSI bus are either initiators (i.e.,
the host computer) or targets (i.e., the
disk drives). Once the host computer
passes a request to the disk drive, the
host can disconnect from the drive rather
than wait for the request's completion.
The host then can perform other process-
ing while the drive services the request.

172 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

PHOTOGRAPHY: PAUL AVIS © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 173

PRODUCT FOCUS

SCSI DRIVES

SCSI DRIVE FEATURES

In addition to performance, other features that can help determine the right high-capacity SCSI drive for you include formatted capacities, failure
rates, and warranties. Compare these vendor-supplied average seek times with results obtained in the BYTE Lab, shown in figure 1 (0=yes; 0=no).

Model

Prevail 325

SLAN 310

11226
ISA

hammerSOO

ZPF300

Micro/Stack

1684

Venda

CMS
Enhancements

Core
International

Fujitsu
America

FWB

La Cie

MicroNet
Technology, Inc.

Micropolis
Corp.

Dnv6 manuTactur6r

CMS

Core

Pi 1 iitct 1
r uji tou

^Pflnatp Wrpn

^af-ifltp Wrpn

Seagate Wren

Micropolis

Formatted capacity (MB)

340

330

415

300

332

423

340

Price (specific configuration)
DOS
Mac

tjnupll NptWflrp

Bare drive

$4195
$4195

$3890
$3890
$3890
$3295

*

$2950

$3395
$3495
$3595
$2995

*

$4290
3)oryo
$4389

$2410
•bd** lu
$2410
$1995

Host adapter manufacturer
Model

Adaptec
1540

Western Digital
WO7000

*

Always
IN2000

*

MicroNet
HA-01

Adaptec

A Lj A < c A on

AHA-1542B

Dimensions (inclies)

5x53/4x8

14V2X5y5X43/4

3yioX5y,oX8

2'^x9'^x9%

9%x9%x4'^

3y,ox10x33/,o

13/5x53/4X8

Weight (lbs.)

7

9.89

7.7

7.6

12.2

8.75

5

Power consumption (watts)

33

16

30

16

16

30

15

Mean time between failures (hours)

150,000

150.000

200,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

150,000

Warranty (years)

2

5

5

1

2

1

1

Internal or external installation

Int./ext.

Int./ext.

Int/ext.

lnt./ext.

lnt./ext.

Ext.

Int.

SCSI-1 a SCSI-2 support

SCSI-2

SCSI-1

SCSI-2

SCSI-1

SCSI-1

SCSI-1

SCSI-2

Sync, data transfer rate (MB/sec.)

N/A

4

4.8

4

4.7

N/A

4

Async. data transfer rate (MB/sec.)

1.6

2

2

2.5

N/A

1.5

1.6

Burst or sustained?

Sustained

Sustained

Burst

Sustained

Sustained

Sustained

Sustained

Average seek time (milliseconds)

16.5

18

14.5

14

14

16

14

Average latency (milliseconds)

7.5

8.33

8.3

8.33

8.33

8.3

8.33

Recoveratjie error rates
(bits read)

1x10"

1x10'*

1x10"

1x10'»

IxlO'"

1x10"

1x10"

On-board cache (K bytes)

Look-ahead buffer (K bytes)

64

64

64

48

48

64

64

Dedicated or embedded servo

Embedded

Embedded

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Drive-select configuration

Switches

Switches

Jumpers

Switches

Switches

Switches

Jumpers

Automatic head parking

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

NetWare-ready

•

•

0

0

•

0

N/A = Infamation not available.
■ = Not applicable.

The two reconnect at a later time to com-
plete the transaction.

Optional synchronous data transfers
can also improve throughput. Ordinar-
ily, SCSI devices perform asynchronous
data transfers that require request/ack-
nowledge handshakes for each byte
transferred. Synchronous transfer lets a
sender transmit bursts of data without
waiting for acknowledgment signals be-
tween each byte. An agreed-upon num-
ber of acknowledge signals are left out-
standing, and the receiver catches up
with the sender at the end of the transfer.

Finally, there is the promise of the
backward-compatible SCSI-2, which a
few of these drives support partially (see
the features table). SCSI-2 provides for
optional 16- and 32-bit data transfers. In
its 32-bit incarnation, SCSI-2 can howl
along at up to 40 MB per second. (For a
complete discussion of SCSI protocols,
see "The SCSI Bus," Parts 1 and 2, in
the February and March BYTE.)

SCSI Enters the DOS World

Photo 1:

MicroNet 's
Micro/Stack and
the Micropolis
1684 led the field
in performance
under DOS.

174 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

SCSI DRIVE

FEATURES

HCS300E

Olskovery
325

ED330SC

Cobra 330e

X/Stor
X8h1-330S1

MacinStor
MAC325-S1

DataFrame

WD380SC

Systems, Ix.

Ontima
Technology

Prism
Systems

Rodlme
Systems, Inc.

Storage
Dimensions

Staage
Dimensions

SuperMac
Technology

Western
Digital

^panstp Wrpn

Optims T@chnoloQy
(OEM)

Atssi

Micropolis
or Maxtor

Seagate Wren

Seagate Wren

Seagate or
Micropolis

IBM

299

321

330

330

330

325

320

320

$3995
$4195

$4390
$4190
$4190
$3995

$3122

$3714
$2714

.

$4160

$3499
*

$3299

*

Future Domain
TMC-860

Adaptec
AHA-1542B

Future Domain
TMC-870

*

Adaptec
AHA-1542B

*

S'/jXSyaXS

2%x11%x10y5

7yioX4%x13y,o

7x14%x4y,o

1%x5%x8

i4y5x7%x5y,o

5x8x9y2

1%x534x4

7.2

9

13

13

4.2

18

24

2.2

26

20

35

30

16

16

37

11.9

100,000

100,000

50.000

50,000

100,000

100,000

100,000

150,000

1

1or3

1

2

2

2

1

1

Int./ext.

Ext.

Ext.

lnt./ext.

Int./ext.

!nt lavi

Int./ext.

Int

SCSI-1

SCSI-2

SCSI-1

SCSI-1

SCSI-1

SCSI-1

SCSI-2

N/A

4.8

4

N/A

5

H.lO

2

4

14.3

2

N/A

14.3

2

N/A

N/A

4

Burst

Burst

Burst

Sustained

Burst

Burst

Sustained

Burst

16.5

14

18

14.5

14

14

17

12.5

8.33

8.33

8.3

8.3

8.33

8.3

8.33

6.95

1x10'«

1x10"

1X10"

IxlO'n

1x109

1X109

1X102'

1x10"

48

48

48

32

32

64

45

64

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Dedicated

Switches/jumpers

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Three hundred megabytes may seem like
overkill for DOS, where the typical sys-
tem is called upon to serve only one user,
one task at a time. But with the growing
popularity (and practicality, with faster
machines) of large databases, scanned
documents and other image files, and ex-
tensive programming environments,
even DOS users occasionally find them-
selves hunting around for truly massive
storage.

DOS's relatively simple, single-user,
single-tasking nature makes the quickest
drives really stand out. Under DOS, your
requests for sequential sectors are likely
to actually read sequential regions on the
disk, whereas a multitasking operating
system may have background processes
that interfere with this sequential access.

Setting up each of the drives was
straightforward. A BIOS ROM mounted
on the host adapter scans the SCSI bus for
active drives; no device drivers are nec-
essary in single-drive DOS configura-

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 175

tions. None of the drives had any operat-
ing or installation problems.

Each subsystem provides DOS ser-
vices via the boot ROM mounted on the
host adapter. At boot time, the option
ROM installs itself, supplanting the
built-in drive BIOS. The host-adapter
ROM then processes BIOS requests and
converts them into requests that are ap-
propriate for the given drive.

To some extent, the performance of
these drives depends on the host adapter.
Except for the Fujitsu America, Micro-
polis, and Western Digital units, which
were delivered in bare-drive configura-
tions, we tested each drive with its own
host adapter. The bare drives ran with an
Adaptec AHA-1542B host adapter, a
high-performance controller that should
not impose any limits on drive per-
formance.

Of course, the ultimate performance
determinant is the drive itself. Several
manufacturers use sophisticated tech-

niques for improving both seek time and
throughput. Seek time can be improved
through the use of a dedicated servo ar-
chitecture, where one face of one platter
is dedicated to maintaining head-posi-
tioning information.

Some drives improve throughput using
a technique known as read-ahead buffer-
ing, which speeds sequential disk-read
access by bringing in more data than you
requested. The disk can sometimes guess
that you'll want to see the sectors that fol-
low the one you asked for. Often, the
drive controller will bring in the whole
track. That's not as wasteful as it sounds.
On a 1 -to- 1 -interleave disk, it takes only
a single revolution of the platter to read
an entire track. On a freshly formatted
disk (such as those used for these tests),
sequential reads and writes almost cer-
tainly will fall in contiguous sectors.

A number of drives posted excellent
DOS test results, but two stood out. The
Micropolis 1684 combined exemplary

PRODUCT FOCUS

SCSI DRIVES

How to Measure Drives
Across Four Operating Systems

Testing high-capacity hard disk
drives on four diverse operating
environments makes constructing rele-
vant, accurate tests a unique challenge.
Our performance evaluations focus on
responsiveness at the file system level,
because that's where users in each envi-
ronment directly experience the relative
speed or sluggishness of each drive. You
can track these test results in figure 1 .

The heart of our test suite is the file
I/O benchmark, which consists of four
separate tests: random and sequential
writes, and random and sequential
reads. Sequential tests record a drive's
flat-out read and write throughput,
while random tests provide a harsher
but more realistic determination of ap-
plication performance. Note that our
random read and write test results are
combined, using an average,
to simplify our graphs.

The file I/O benchmark
first creates a large file, al-
locating enough space on
the drive for the entire file at
its inception. Then the file
I/O benchmark times a re-
write of the entire file in a
sequential fashion. Each
chunk of data is of random
length (but a multiple of 5 12
bytes to keep the writes sec-
tor-aligned) to avoid favor-
ing any drive geometry.

Next, the program con-
ducts the random read and
write tests to break up any
cached sectors that the drive
may have after completing
the sequential write. Ran-
dom reads and writes occur
entirely within the large
file, and we made no effort
whatsoever to keep the file
offsets or length requests
sector-aligned. This meth-
od causes repeated seeks
and might cause additional
read-before-writes to occur
on write requests, but we
think it best reflects the way
applications actually access
data in files.

Finally, the file I/O test

reads back the entire file sequentially.
The tests cover basic writing and read-
ing activities, but they do little to mea-
sure how drives respond when you im-
pose the added burden of updating
directories and allocation information.
Our second file system test makes that
measurement: It's the time it takes to
copy a large directory structure. Under
DOS and for NetWare clients, this
means XCOPY; on the Macintosh, we
accomplish the tree-copy test via an
MPW (Macintosh Programmer's Work-
shop) script; and on Unix, we use find
coupled with cpio to complete the task.

Our one low-level test measures seek
time, a basic parameter that will affect
drive speed in any application. A Flex-
Star 3000s dedicated test system mea-
sured seek times (see figure A).

SEEK-TEST RESULTS

in

X

< Better Worse ►

•Western Digital WD380 SC
Fujitsu M226 ISA
Micropolis 1684
Optima Diskovery 325
La Cie ZPF 300
FWB hammerSOO
Storage Dimensions X/Stor
Storage Dimensions MacinStor
MicroNet Micro/Stack
CMS Prevail 325
Priam ED 330 SC
N/Hance HCS300E
SuperMac DataFrame
Rodime Cobra 330e
Core SLAN 310

0 5 10 15 20 25
Seek time (milliseconds)

This drive's form factor made real-world tests impossible.

Figure A: Raw seek times measured by the BYTE Lab
compare roughly with vendor-specified average seek times,
shown in the table. Shorter lines indicate better results.

Unfortunately, we were unable to ob-
tain meaningful results for the Western
Digital WD380 SC. We used a canned
seek-test routine, which issues a num-
ber of SCSI seeks. The Western Digital
drive, because of its small form factor,
must "rest" between seeks for better
heat dissipation; this occurs only on
seeks, not on reads or writes.

We ran DOS 4.01 and NetWare 386
tests on 33-MHz 386 systems from Club
American and Arche Technologies. For
drives shipped without a host adapter,
we used an Adaptec AHA-1542B card.
Each test setup used the drive under test
as its sole hard disk drive.

To test the SCSI drives under Unix,
we added the Adaptec controller to an
Everex Step 33-MHz 386 system with 4
megabytes of memory. The system used
an internal 150-MB hard
disk drive, which we loaded
with version 2.2 of Interac-
tive Unix System V. We
configured Unix to treat the
Adaptec as a secondary con-
troller. We built a 150-MB
file system on the Unix par-
tition of each SCSI drive.

Our Macintosh test setup
included a Mac SE/30 that
was equipped with 2 MB of
memory and running Sys-
tem 6.05. We simply con-
nected each drive in turn to
the Mac's external SCSI port
and formatted them using
vendor-supplied software.

Our benchmarks are rele-
vant only for comparison. In
Unix, for example, our 4-
MB system left little room
for the all-imjwrtant kernel
buffers, and we made no
effort to tune each system
for maximum performance.
With each operating system,
your performance will
probably be better with a
fully tuned system. The im-
portant thing to consider
when making comparisons
is that each drive should be
run on an identical system,
as these were.

176 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

PRODUCT FOCUS

SCSI Drives

sequential write numbers and killer re-
sults on the tree-copy test, to earn first
place overall. MicroNet's Micro/Stack
posted the best sequential read time and
performed very well on the tree-copy test
(see figure 1 and figure A).

Micropolis claims that its proprietary
cache feature enhances performance.
The cache is especially sensitive to di-
rectory and file allocation table (FAT)
use on the drive, and it attempts to keep
these locations buffered as much as pos-
sible. Excellent numbers on the tree-copy

With its massive appetite for storage and
performance, Unix is a good match for
SCSI. Its single-rooted file system struc-
ture lets you place new devices anywhere
you want them. The multitasking nature
of the operating system also maps well to
SCSI's asynchronous nature.

Our file I/O tests showed off the
strengths and weaknesses of Unix as re-
lated to the other test environments. The
DOS and Macintosh numbers for se-
quential read and write, for example,
seem positively astonishing compared to
Unix. The only other multitasking envi-
roimient we tested, NetWare 386, shows
some similarity to Unix's numbers. On a
single-tasking machine, it's acceptable
to have the system "go away" for up to
several seconds while disk I/O is being
done. The amount of data that can be
written before making the system re-
sponsive again is greater, because the
user expects the system to freeze up
briefly.

When you start multitasking, how-

test, which makes the most use of direc-
tory entries, confirms this claim. Short
seek times helped performance, as well.

MicroNet's Micro/Stack drive did
very well on the tree-copy test, despite a
lackluster seek time. However, the out-
standing read throughput more than
made up the difference. The Micro/
Stack included a bundled host/adapter/
driver combination, which MicroNet op-
timized for use with the drive. Micro-
Net's solid performance can also be
attributed to its low-level format optimi-

Photo 2: Unix
system honors
went to FWB 's
hammerSOO,
Optima 's
Diskovery 325,
and Storage
Dimensions '
X/Stor.

ever, things get more complicated. Re-
sponsiveness becomes a priority; you
don't want your keyboard to lock up
while the disk is active. Under Unix, as
with NetWare, more users (or processes)
pound on the disk than under DOS, and
the size of the atomic disk operation is
much smaller. So, while a DOS system
might be content to go blind for 5 seconds
while it spews a huge block of data out to
disk, Unix demands that a device driver
finish its work in a few milliseconds.

Developers of Interactive Unix grafted
device drivers and some specific changes
onto standard System V Unix to improve
performance. Interactive Unix's Fast
File System (FFS) attempts to optimize
sequential I/O by dynamically adjusting
the amount of data read from disk in a
single operation. It assigns as much I/O
as possible to clusters of contiguous disk
blocks. The more sequential your data
access patterns, the more the file system
adds to your I/O block size. As you re-
turn to random access, the file system

zations, which remap the drive geometry
to one that makes better use of available
head/cylinder combinations.

Fujitsu, FWB, Optima, and Western
Digital drives made up the middle of the
group, all with respectable times. Fujitsu's
M226 ISA and Western Digital's WD380
SC should provide a solid basis for an
OEM system. To its credit, the Western
Digital drive is much smaller and quieter
than the Fujitsu drive. As in our other en-
vironments, the Optima and FWB drives
paralleled each other in speed.

quickly scales down, limiting the read-
ahead.

The other half of Interactive Unix's
optimization lies in the High Perfor-
mance Disk Driver. This unified driver
works from a table that lists the capabili-
ties of supported disk controllers. The
HPDD tries to squeeze maximum perfor-
mance from each controller. In the case
of the Adaptec AHA-1542B used in our
tests, the HPDD takes advantage of the
controller's scatter- gather capability. It
optimizes disk access by collecting dis-
joint requests, sorting them in sector
order, and getting them on or off the disk
with a minimum number of seeks.

Scatter-gather also applies well to
Unix's buffering scheme. An application
rarely writes data directly to a disk. In-
stead, data resides in one of a number of
kernel buffers. When the number of
available buffers gets low, or when a pe-
riodic timer expires (whichever comes
first), the "dirty" buffers are written to
disk. Each buffer remains as long as pos-
sible until some other process needs to
write to it. The driver tags each buffer
with the disk ID and sector number from
which it was loaded. If a read request
comes in later for that same sector, the
buffer supplies the data without requir-
ing a read from the disk. Because each
buffer is tagged with a sector number,
buffers can readily be grouped and
sorted. Interactive Unix enhanced this
standard Unix mechanism by combining
contiguous buffers into one to increase
the amount of data that can be written in
one operation.

Last on the list of technical consider-
ations is the concept of asynchronicity.
SCSI drives are intelligent, each one pos-
sessing its own built-in controller and,
optionally, cache, and they can perform
certain operations asynchronously. Most
notably, seeking can take place on sev-
eral drives simultaneously. The SCSI
host adapter sends the seek commands to
the drives and doesn't bother to wait for
the drive to say, "I'm there." Instead, it

SCSI Slakes Unix's Thirst for Storage

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 177

MULTIPLATFORM PERFORMANCE

(a) DOS

Micropolis 1684
MicroNet Micro/Stack
Optima Diskovery 325
Fujitsu M226 ISA
FWB hammerSOO
Western Digital WD380 SC
CMS Prevail 325
Core SLAN 310
N/Hance HCS300E
Priam ED 330 SC

< Worse I

500

K bytes/second

1000

1500

Better ►

1 1

2000

Low-level index

< Worse Better ►

2500 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

(b) Unix

FWB hammerSOO
Optima Diskovery 325
Storage Dimensions X/Stor
MicroNet Micro/Stack
Micropolis 1 684
Fujitsu M226 ISA
Western Digital WD380 SC
Core SLAN 310
Priam ED 330 SC
N/Hance HCS300E

300

600

900

1200

1500 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

(c) NetWare 386

Optima Diskovery 325
FWB hammerSOO
MicroNet Micro/Stack
Western Digital WD380 SC
Fujitsu M226 ISA
CMS Prevail 325
Micropolis 1684
Priam ED 330 SC
Core SLAN 310
N/Hance HCS300E

etter^-

100

200

300

400

500

600

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

(d) Macintosh

Micropolis 1684
Western Digital WD380 SC
Storage Dimensions MacinStor
FWB hammer300
Optima Diskovery325
La Cie ZPF300
Rodime Cobra 330e
MicroNet Micro/Stack
SuperMac DataFrame
Fujitsu M226 ISA

M Worse i

K bytes/second

500

1000

1500

Better ►

< Worse Better ►

3ZZ3

I I I I

2000

2500 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Sequential read IHyi Sequential write L J Random read/write I I Tree copy

Figure 1: The tree-copy test measures how well a drive copies a large directory structure; sequential tests gauge flat-out read
and write throughput; and random tests exemplify application performance, (a) Under DOS, the Micropolis 1684 and the
MicroNet Micro/Stack are notable for their excellent tree-copy and sequential-read throughput, (b) Under Unix, the FWB and
Optima drives had superior overall results, (c) Although performance differences under NetWare 386 were less dramatic than
those under DOS or Unix, drives from FWB, Optima, and MicroNet stood out again, (d) On the Macintosh, drive performance
clustered quite tightly, although drives from Storage Dimensions and Micropolis turned in the best results overall. Longer bars
indicate better performance.

178 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

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Circle 335 on Reader Service Card

PRODUCT FOCUS

SCSI DRIVES

moves on to the next request. The advan-
tages of asynchronicity are not seen in
single-drive configurations, such as
those that appear in these tests. The real
gains become apparent when you use ad-
vanced configurations such as striping,
in which multiple disk drives are treated
as one.

Unix Picks

The preceding information is meant to
help you draw your own conclusions
from the table, but we have our own fa-
vorites — some obvious, others less so.

The drives that fell in the "obvious
choice" category surprised us. They
were the ones that had it all: small size,
external case and power supply, and
near-silent operation. We didn't expect
these tiny drives to be the top perform-
ers, but FWB's hammerSOO and Opti-
ma's Diskovery 325 were clear winners
in overall speed. We were also pleased
with MicroNet's Micro/Stack, another
small, silent drive. You have to pay for
the convenience that reduced size
brings— these drives are quite expensive

for the storage they offer. The FWB
drive holds a slight edge over the other
small external drives in both price and
performance, earning the nod for best in
its class.

Heading up the big-drive category is
the Storage Dimensions X/Stor system.
This is actually up to four drives in a sin-
gle case that can place over a gigabyte of
storage at your system's disposal. The
company has managed to construct a
case that takes up barely more room than
the drives themselves, and it is attractive
enough that you won't be ashamed to
have it seen on your desk.

The rest of the pack included a smat-
tering of internal and external drives. Of
these, the Micropolis half-height inter-
nal drive seemed to have the best overall
showing. The only factors that would
bring us to a heavy full-height drive
would be performance and price, and the
Micropolis 1684 makes both these argu-
ments moot. At a suggested list price of
$1995 for the bare drive, it's a good
starting point for building a system.
Western Digital's WD380 SC also per-

formed quite well.

The Fujitsu full-height internal drive
is this roundup's enigma: Its perfor-
mance pushed it out of the top five, but it
still managed to skunk the others in only
the tree-copy test. This may be thanks to
the drive's fast seek time, and the tree-
copy test does a blessed lot of seeking.
The drive's noise level was the worst of
all the drives we tested, producing loud
snaps during seeks and emitting an an-
noying whine during normal operation.
Unless you plan to drop it in acoustic
foam or in another room, save your ears
the torment of the Fujitsu drive.

Another disappointment was the CMS
Prevail 325 drive. Prevail it didn't, be-
cause, of all the drives in the test, the
Prevail was the only one that wouldn't
work with Unix. The very same drive
and controller worked perfectly with
DOS and NetWare, but when we attempt-
ed to install the drive under Unix, even
the simple reading of the drive's geome-
try failed. We notified CMS of the prob-
lem, but the company was unable to pro-
vide a solution.

NetWare 386 Optimizations Boost Disk Performance

Photo 3: Among
NetWare 386
drives, the FWB
hammer300.
Optima Diskovery
325, and
MicroNet
Micro/Stack
404/LAN were
outstanding.

Only CMS, MicroNet, and Optima were
offering NetWare 386 drivers for their
drives by the time we went to press. We
tested the other drives under NetWare
386 using the Adaptec Host Adapter and
its supplied driver.

Installing these drives was easy, but
that was due more to NetWare 386 itself
than to any innovation on the part of the
drive vendors. Once we cabled the drive
to the host adapter, we just ran Novell's
Server program and loaded the host

adapter's driver, which each manufac-
turer supplies as an NLM (NetWare
Loadable Module). A few floppy disk
swaps are all that is required to install
the remaining NetWare utilities onto the
hard disk drive.

We didn't test these drives under Ad-
vanced NetWare, but you can expect a
much more involved installation process
with Advanced NetWare than with Net-
Ware 386. The most time-consuming
part of a NetWare installation often is

running Novell's COMPSURF utility,
which does a very detailed surface analy-
sis to mark out defects. Some of the
drives, including the ones from CMS and
MicroNet, were "NetWare Ready" and
didn't require COMPSURFing for any
NetWare installation. NetWare Ready, a
Novell certification, also indicates that
some NetWare configuration informa-
tion is already present on the disk; Ad-
vanced NetWare versions 2.15 and high-
er can read drive information directly off
the disk and do not require additional
drivers.

Each of these drive/host-adapter com-
binations supports NetWare's disk-mir-
roring capability, which reserves one
disk as a copy of another to guarantee
data integrity.

NetWare 386 and Unix have some sim-
ilarities when it comes to managing disk
drives. NetWare 386 keeps caching buf-
fers for both files and directories, cach-
ing both reads and writes. NetWare and
these host adapters also support SCSI
disconnect, which provides performance
gains in muhiple drive configurations by
allowing a controller to move on to other
tasks while one drive is finding its data.

Some performance features, however,
are unique to NetWare 386. The operat-
ing system makes a number of dynamic
optimizations to crank up disk perfor-
mance. NetWare dynamically allocates
memory for directory cache buffers to
tune them to the pattern of actual disk

180 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

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PRODUCT FOCUS

SCSI DRIVES

usage. It also indexes files with many
FAT entries, to speed random accesses.
And NetWare handles elevator seeks, a
technique that queues disk requests so
that sector requests seen by the disk in-
volve as few seeks as possible.

All this optimization in the operating
system conspires to make performance
quite similar from drive to drive. As the
figures show, performance differences
among drives under NetWare were not
nearly as dramatic as those shown under
DOS. Optima's Diskovery 325, FWB's
hammerSOO, and MicroNet's Micro/
Stack finished in a virtual dead heat
when you consider both tree-copy and
file read/write performance. Both the

Diskovery 325 and hammer300 drives
had shown good speed in our other envi-
ronments, so it was no surprise that they
did very well on the tree-copy test.

The Micro/Stack drive's optimiza-
tions, which made the drive a leader in
the DOS benchmarks, apparently helped
here, as well; it finished head and shoul-
ders above the rest on sequential reads.
MicroNet claims that the optimizations
are specifically designed for better per-
formance with the small block sizes used
by NetWare.

The CMS Prevail 325, Western Digi-
tal WD380 SC, and Fujitsu M226 ISA
scored quite well— only slightly behind
the top three finishers.

Mac and SCSI: A Venerable Relationship

Photo 4: The La

CieZPFSOO
shinedfor its
economy, while
the Micropolis
1684 and the FWB
hammerSOO
turned in superior
performance
among Macintosh
drives.

Utility software played a key role in our
evaluation of Macintosh drives. Al-
though disk drives for other environ-
ments neither require nor supply util-
ities, drives on the Mac thrive on them.
Mandatory components of the packages
were disk formatting and disk partition-
ing utilities.

Disk formatting readies the hard disk
surface for accepting data. Unusable sec-
tors are usually located at this stage and
mapped out. All the packages we tested
either allowed you to select an interleave
factor or picked one for you, based on the
speed of the host machine.

Disk partitioning divides the physical
disk surface into one or more logical vol-
umes. Many of the manufacturers sug-
gest that, for performance's sake, you
limit partitions to around 80 MB. This
stage also builds the initial directory
structure (directory B-tree and bit maps)

for the partition. Most of the systems we
looked at supported A/UX partitions, as
well as Mac OS partitions. A few sup-
ported ProDOS.

Before the Macintosh can access a vol-
ume (i.e., make it appear on the Desk-
top), you must mount the partition asso-
ciated with that volume. Partitions on a
Macintosh drive can be tagged to mount
either at start-up time, called automount-
ing, or in response to an explicit mount
request. All the utility packages that we
examined handled automounting. Addi-
tionally, all the packages allowed us to
lock individual partitions; locked parti-
tions are read-only, which offers some
virus protection for sensitive applica-
tions. Finally, nearly every package pro-
vided some level of password protection.

Silverlining, the La Cie ZPF 300's ac-
companying driver software, included an
autopark feature. It also provided a disk

182 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

BIG IS OUT

SMALL IS IN.

Introducing the Falco Infinity Desktop Computer.
The Smallest 386SX Desktop.

If you're sizing up desktop computers, you'll
immediately see the advantage of the Ealco Infinity™
Desktop. It gives you 386"SX power and perform-
ance without dominating your deskspace.

Half the size of a standard PC, die Infinity Desktop
has everything you need on-board: Peripheral
interfaces like disk controllers. Memory expansion.
Communication ports. And VGA' level graphics up
to 1024 X 768 resolution. Plus, two AT-compatible,
16-bit expansion slots.

It runs DOS^ 4.0, UNDC 05/2" and Microsoft'

C ] 990 fako Dm Products, inc. 440 Potrero Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086-4117 AB [ra^emarh are regtstered w their respective ou-nm.

Circle 132 on Reader Service Card

Windows 3.0. What's more, you can choose from
four configurations, including a diskless network node
and a full-featured model with 1.44MB floppy and
the option of 40, 100 or 200 MB hard drive.

The only thing we left out is the noise. The Infinity
Desktop runs so quiedy you'll hardly know it's on.

Whether you work in close quarters or spacious sur-
roundings, the Ealco Infinit)' Desktop covers all your
needs. Without covering your desk. And that's about
die size of it. To get one for your desk, call us today
1-800-FALCO4U

FALCO

PRODUCT FOCUS

Circle 107 on Reader Service Card

A HARD DRIVE IS A
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TO WASTE.

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optimizing (i.e., defragmenting) capa-
bility. Unleashing the optimizer on a vol-
ume shows you a percentage figure that
indicates that volume's level of fragmen-
tation, as well as how many bytes the op-
timizer will have to move around on the
drive to clean things up.

The Rodime Cobra 330e's utility soft-
ware included FastBack II backup soft-
ware (from Fifth Generation Systems).
Although you can assign passwords to
partitions on the Rodime drive, you can't
password-protect a boot partition. This
was mildly annoying, but it's critical if
you don't want anyone to get into your
machine.

The software with SuperMac's Data-
Frame is as extensive. You select the size
of a disk's partitions using a unique,
movable pie chart. Once you've built
your partitions, not only can you attach
individual passwords, but you can select
partitions to be automatically encrypted
using the data encryption standard. The
encryption occurs transparently, which
means that once you've turned the en-
cryption on, you don't have to do any-
thing additional — all your software will
work as it normally does. If someone
else swipes your drive, all he or she will
see are piles of encrypted data. This pro-
tection, however, comes at the expense of
speed. With DES activated on a parti-
tion, the file I/O tests that we ran yielded
a sequential read throughput of about
28,000 bytes per second and a sequential
write throughput of about 27,000 bytes
per second. Compare this to the over 1
million bytes per second that we ob-
tained on reads without DES.

FWB's hammerSOO arrived with an
impressive array of software: each pro-
gram accompanied by a small manual.
Not only can you password-protect and
encrypt partitions on the fly, but FWB's
Hard Disk Deadbolt software lets you
perform after-the-fact encryption using
the DES algorithm, as well as a faster
proprietary encryption scheme called
Quickbolt. Deadbolt also includes Black-
out, a software utility that lets you tem-
porarily lock your Mac for short trips
away from your desk. You activate Black-
out and enter a password, and your Mac
is frozen until someone reenters that
password. (And Blackout is intelligent
about how it "freezes" your machine-
background tasks can continue to run.)

Optima's software, which is called
Disl^ount, handles the essentials: for-
matting, partitioning, and attaching
passwords to partitions. The password
control can mount access to a partition,
and /ou can specify that a partition re-
main locked until the proper password is

Contact us to discuss our products and your needs. (800) 548-4778
Lahey Computer Systems, Inc. P.O. Box 6091, Incline Village, NV 89450
Tel: (702) 831-2500 FAX: (702) 831-8123 Tlx: 9102401256
FORTRAN IS OUR FORTE

184 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 199 on Reader Service Card

The Only Way Competitive drives
Can Go Faster Than 9ivis.

With effective access times as low as 9ms, the Plus Impulsef AT® Series, hard disks don't need rockets
to fly They're the perfect match for today's disk-intensive applications.

Impulse isn't only fast, it's affordable. Compare it to any other disk drive in its class and you'll see how
competitively priced it is.

Impulse isn't only fast and affordable, it's compatible with all leading 286/386 PCs. And it's available
now. In 40, 80, 105, 120, 170 and 210 megabytes (330 and 425MB shipping soon). With integrated
IDE-AT or SCSI controllers.

Get in touch with your Impulse reseller today For more ^saa^^^
information, call 800-624-5545 in the U.S. and Canada. "^w^^lfcft

© 1990 Plus Development Corp. Plus Impulse and the Plus logo are registered trademarks of Plus Development Corp. AT is a registered trademark of IBM.

LI IM lU) I

Leave the rockets to them. And the flying to Plus.

Circle 285 on Reader Service Card

PRODUCT FOCUS

SCSI DRIVES

The Fuzzy Side of SCSI

Communication between the SCSI
bus and a disk drive or other device
has two segments: computer to host-
SCSI controller and host-SCSI control-
ler to SCSI device.

The SCSI protocol makes the second
step efficient and relatively painless,
because every device speaks the same
language, and switching in units from
different vendors (ideally) presents no
problems.

But computer to host-SCSI controller
communication is a different story.
Each host adapter vendor for the PC
XT/ AT family of machines shows a dif-
ferent interface to software running on
the host machine. On SCSI-equipped
Macs, the built-in SCSI chip means that
there is only one way to talk to SCSI de-
vices, but the programming method is
radically different from anything seen
on the PC.

Common Access Method promises to
straighten out this uncivilized side of
SCSI communication, at least for the
PC. But the CAM committee hasn't yet
hammered out a final standard. The
standard that the CAM committee
adopts may also make it possible for
drivers for more exotic devices such as
CD-ROMs, tape drives, and scanners to
share the same host adapters through a
common interface.

The BYTE Lab has been working on
SCSI testing software designed for the
Macintosh SCSI chip and three popular
PC-host adapters: the Western Digital
WD7000-ASC, the Adaptec AHA-
1542B, and the Future Domain TMC-
885. None of these devices makes writ-
ing software a terrible chore. But as far
as we're concerned, writing for three
interfaces is writing for two interfaces
too many, which leaves us hoping for a
well-defined CAM in the near future.

Western Digital's family of host
adapters relies on the Standard Device
Level Protocol interface developed by

Columbia Data Products. SDLP defines
commands for reading, writing, infor-
mation gathering, and other tasks.

Under MS-DOS, software has access
to SDLP through a software interrupt,
INT 1 1 hexadecimal, which the adapt-
er's ROM steals from the equipment de-
termination routine in the machine's
BIOS. To send a SCSI command, the
calling software simply fills registers
with appropriate values and fires off the
interrupt. OS/2 and Unix applications
access similar commands through
ioctl calls to the SDLP kernel device
driver, which in turn talks to the host
adapter hardware through an adapter-
specific device driver.

The Advanced SCSI Programming
Interface provides Adaptec's host
adapters with a common software inter-
face for device drivers and applications.
DOS, OS/2, and NetWare applications
talk to the ASPI driver by pushing the
address of a command block onto the
stack and then issuing a call to the
driver. The process differs between the
operating systems only in the way in
which the calling software determines
the ASPI entry point. ASPI supports a
number of information request calls and
standard SCSI I/O commands.

Future Domain provides developers
with an OEM kit to ease the process of
writing software that supports Future
Domain host adapters. The kit consists
of object modules that developers can
link into their own code. We also found
it relatively easy to write directly to the
card's TMC-950 SCSI controller chip, a
memory-mapped device for which Fu-
ture Domain provides documentation.

On the Mac, you can take comfort in
there being only one programming in-
terface to SCSI: the Mac's SCSI man-
ager. Unless you're trying to do some
real low-level SCSI programming, the
SCSI manager provides all the functions
that you need. The SCSI manager sup-

ports bus arbitration, device selection,
and message transfer. Apple has even
provided an extremely simple program-
ming language for high-speed buffer
copies that you can use to control what
the SCSI manager does with data sent to
or taken from a target device. (For a de-
tailed description of programming to
the Mac's SCSI manager, see "Foreign
File Systems," March BYTE.)

If you are really desperate to go
straight to the SCSI hardware, you'll
have to dig up whatever documentation
you have on the NCR 5380, the SCSI
controller chip used by Macintoshes
since the Mac Plus. You'll also want to
go spelunking into all your Inside Mac-
intosh volumes. There is a variety of
ways to effect a transfer on the SCSI bus
using the 5380. You've probably heard
of "blind" transfers: data exchange on
the SCSI bus in which the system checks
only a handshake bit in association with
the first byte of a packet transfer and
then sends the rest of the bytes at top
speed (i.e., without explicitly checking
handshaking). You may have also heard
of the 5380's "pseudo-DMA" mode, in
which the transfer of bytes to and from
the chip triggers the handshaking sig-
nals on the SCSI bus.

As compatible as Macs may seem, the
sad truth is that even though all Macs
use the 5380 to control the SCSI bus, the
5380 is wired differently for different
Macs. For example, in a Mac Plus, the
base address of the 5380 is at 580000h;
it's at 5FF000h on a Mac SE and at
50F10000h on the Mac II. Further-
more, the Mac Plus must use software
handshaking in the pseudo-DMA
mode, which means that you might run
into invalid data being transferred if you
choose to use blind transfers on that
machine.

The moral: Unless you're developing
your own custom SCSI hardware, stick
with the SCSI manager.

given. DiskMount's disk verification
performs a nondestructive read test of
the hard disk surface. You can specify
that the disk drive's internal error cor-
rection be turned off for the duration of
the test so that "marginal" blocks (i.e.,
those likely to fail soonest in the future)
are reported. Once you've collected your
list of questionable blocks, DiskMount

lets you map good blocks in the place of
bad ones. As an extra level of protection,
the Optima system keeps duplicates of
the disk's partition information and de-
vice driver. In that way, if either should
somehow become corrupted, a utility
program called QuickFix can replace the
original with the duplicate.
The installation software on Storage

Dimensions' MacinStor isn't loaded with
frills, but it has everything you need.
You can password-protect partitions,
toggle them as read-only, and even flag a
partition to use write verification. We
were also very happy to see that the Mac-
inStor disk included a cdev (a Control
Panel device) version of the installation
software. This allows you access to the

186 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

HP's LaserJet III printer. • •

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Because Resources Should Be Shared.

Data Communications Products Division
200 N. 2nd St., P.O.Box 387 Ba\) St. Louis. MS 39520
Fax 601-467-4551 Phone 601-467-8231 or toll-free

800-523-2702

•All product or company names are trademarks of their respective holders.

INTERNATIONAL
DISTRIBUTORS

Australia
Melbourne

Shuttle Technologies. Ltd.
(03) 587 4920

Melbourne

Goya Tech, Pty.. Ltd-

[03) 747-8455

Belgium

Multiway Data Belgium
016-29 22 78

The Netherlands

Multiway Data Netherlands
079-424 111

Denmark

Trend Communications
53 65 23 45

Finland

Genine Oy Impdata
(921)335700

France

Suresenes

Komdex International
[1)47 72 63 11

Paris

Gradco France
{1)42 94 99 69

Germany

Munich

AMS Computech GmbH
(089) 126806-0
Dusseldorf

Multiway Data Germany

0211-25 18 75

Italy

Torino

BRM Italiana
(Oil) 771.00.10

Milano
LTD.

(02) 749,0749
Norway

A/S Kjell Bakke
47-6-832000

Singapore

Mark Systems (FE) Pte.. Ltd.
65-2261877

Spain

Vidmar Control
(93) 2454803

Sweden

Solna

Microcom/Maldata
(08) 7344100

Sollentuna
Beon Data
08-626 92 26

Switzerland

Sengstag Computers AG
0041.1.950.54.44

United Kingdom

Leicester & London

A-Line Dataspeed Devices. Ltd.

0533-778899

Buckinghamshire
Trend Datalink, Ltd.
(06285) 30611

Circle 41 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 42)

PRODUCT FOCUSi

SCSI DRIVES

COMPANY

INFORMATION

Adaptec, Inc.

Future Domain

Micropolls Corp.

Rodime Systems, Inc.

{AHA-1542B)

(TMC-885)

(1684)

(Cobra 330e)

691 South Milpitas Blvd.

1 582 Parkway Loop, Suite A

21211 NordhoffSt.

901 Broken Sound Pkwy., NW

Milpitas, CA 95035

Tustin, CA 92680

Chatsworth, CA 91311

Boca Raton, FL 33487

(408) 945-8600

(714)259-0400

(818) 709-3300

(407) 994-5585

Inquiry 1111.

Inquiry 1116.

Inquiry 1120.

Inquiry 1124.

CMS Enhancements

FWB

N/Hance Systems, Inc.

Storage Dimensions

(Prevail 325)

(hammer300)

(HCS300E)

(MacinStor MAC325-S1 ,

1372 Valencia Ave.

2040 Polk St., Suite 21 5

908R Providence Hwy.

X/Storxsh1-330S1)

Tustin, CA 92680

San Francisco, CA 94109

Dedham, MA 02026

2145 Hamilton Ave.

(714) 259-9555

(415) 474-8055

(800) 289-9676

San Jose, CA 95125

Inquiry 1112.

Inquiry 1117.

(617)461-1970

(408) 879-0300

Inquiry 1121.

Inquiry 1125.

Core International

LaCie

(SLAN 310)

(ZPF 300)

Optima Technology

SuperMac Technology

6500 East Rogers Cir.

1 9552 Southwest 90th Court

(Diskovery 325)

(DataFrame)

Boca Raton, FL 33487

Tualatin, OR 97062

1 7526 Von Karman

485 Potrero Ave.

(305) 997-6033

(800) 999-0143

Irvine, CA 92714

Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Inquiry 1113.

(503) 692-0771

(714)476-0515

(408) 245-2202

Inquiry 1118.

Inquiry 1122.

Inquiry 1126.

FlexStar

(3000s)

MicroNet Technology, Inc.

Priam Systems

Western Digital

2040 Fortune Dr.

(Micro/Stack 404/LAN,

(ED 330 SC)

(WD380 SC, WD7000-ASC)

Oal 1 iJUotJ, c?o 1 O 1

1 1 nifiywuuu L/CJurt

cs 1 uo Irvine uenier ur.

(408) 433-0770

20 Mason

San Jose, CA 951 31

Irvine, CA 92718

Inquiry 1114.

Irvine, CA 92718

(408) 954-8680

(714)932-5000

(714)837-6033

Inquiry 1123.

Inquiry 1127.

Fujitsu America

Inquiry 1119.

(M226 ISA)

3055 Orchard Dr.

San Jose, CA 95134

(408)432-1300

Inquiry 1115.

most frequently used functions, such as
mounting or dismounting a partition
from the Control Panel. The MicroNet
installation software builds A/UX as
well as Macintosh partitions, and it eas-
ily initialized drives.

MicroNet drivers supported overlap-
ping seeks on multiple disk drive config-
urations. Overlapping seeks logically
chain two drives together and divide data
between them. The process makes use of
the drive's built-in read-ahead cache.
For example, if software issues a large
read request on a file (e.g. , a multimega-
byte image file), the first piece of the file
comes from drive A, the second from
drive B. MicroNet' s engineers point out
that even write accesses benefit from
overlapped seeks: Since each drive fills
up half as fast as it ordinarily would, seek
distances are reduced.

It's not easy to pick the best Macintosh
drive. In general, a winner in one test
turned in a mediocre performance in
other tests. Based on performance alone,
we chose the Micropolis 1684 as the top
drive because of its write throughput
numbers (see figure 1). It scored the
highest marks in both our sequential-
and random- write throughput tests. (Be-

cause this was an OEM drive, we needed
compatible driver software; we used La
Cie's Silverlining in our tests.)

However, when we considered more
than just raw speed, we gave top honors
to the FWB hammerSOO. Although not a
speed demon, it ranked in the top half of
most tests. The amount of support soft-
ware that came with the drive swayed our
vote.

Finally, if you're cost-conscious and
find yourself reeling from high prices,
consider the La Cie ZPF 300 drive. It
scored near the middle in most tests, and
its Silverlining software, while not re-
plete with features, is probably all the
hard disk drive software you'll ever
need. However, the drive stands out in
price: It's $700 to $2500 less than other
Mac drives.

And the Winner Is . . .

Picking an overall high-capacity hard
disk drive winner depends, as always, on
your individual application and environ-
ment. The FWB and Optima drives
proved to be very solid. Both finished at
or near the top for all four operating sys-
tems. Although it is slickly packaged and
well documented, the Optima Diskovery

325 is too expensive for our tastes; we
like the FWB hammerSOO for both its
price and performance.

Storage Dimensions' offerings turned
out to be excellent performers, as well.
Both the X/Stor and the MacinStor
scored very well on their respective Unix
and Macintosh platforms, and both carry
prices lower than drives of similar per-
formance and capacity.

If your platform is DOS or NetWare,
we suggest MicroNet' s Micro/Stack
404/LAN. At 423 MB and with excellent
benchmark numbers, the $4495 Micro/
Stack may be worth the little larger up-
front investment.

All the OEM drives had acceptable
speed, but the Micropolis 1684 distin-
guished itself. Each drive had above-
average mean-time-between-failure rat-
ings, and the speedy Western Digital
WD380 SC, at 31/2 inches, fits in where
others can't. ■

Steve Apiki and Stan Wszola are BYTE Lab
testing editors/engineers. Rick Grehan is
the BYTE Lab technical director, and
Tom Yager is a BYTE Lab technical editor.
They can be reached on BIX as "apiki, "
"stan, " "rick_g, " and "tyager. "

188 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

REUABLE

enough to forget about

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AFFOROABLE

enough to fit any budget

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Circle 363 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 364)

SYSTEM

With all the coverage that the Ex-
tended Industry Standard Archi-
tecture (EISA) and Micro Chan-
nel architecture buses get, it's easy to
believe that you need one of these new
bus architectures to get great perfor-
mance. Not necessarily. The three ma-
chines in this review— AST's Premium
486/33, Club American's Hawk III, and
Everex's Step 486/33— combine a 33-
MHz i486 with the standard AT bus, and
the result in each case is a screamer.

These three machines also have a lot in
common besides the AT bus and the 33-
MHz i486 CPU. All contain a socket for
a Weitek WTL4167 math coprocessor,
a 5 '/4-inch 1.2-megabyte floppy disk
drive, two serial ports, a parallel port, a
-101 -key keyboard, a 16-bit VGA card
with 256K bytes of RAM, and a 14-inch
color monitor. The main differences in
the configurations that we tested were
the size of the hard disk drive and the
amount of RAM and external cache
memory that each offered.

The Premium 486/33 had a 3V2-inch
110-MB Imprimis Intelligent Drive
Electronics (IDE) hard disk drive with a
16-millisecond average access time, 4
MB of system RAM, and no external
CPU cache. The Hawk III had a 5 V4-inch
158-MB Maxtor ESDI hard disk drive
with a 16-ms average access time, 8 MB
of RAM, and 256K bytes of external
cache memory. The Step 486/33 had the
greatest disk capacity of the group, with
a 5'/4-inch, 330-MB, 141^-ms Seagate
ESDI hard disk drive, as well as 8 MB of
RAM and a 128K-byte external proces-
sor cache. The Step 486/33 and the Hawk
III also had multifrequency monitors,
rather than the standard VGA monitor

Mark L. Van Name and Bill Catchings

that was included with the Premium
486/33.

Because the configurations of these
machines are so similar, it can be diffi-
cult to choose among them. The key is to
focus on three major criteria: price, per-
formance, and reliability.

Wide Price Spread

None of these systems is cheap, but you
can't expect bargain-basement prices for
top performers. To make a reasonable
price comparison, we priced each system
with a color VGA board and monitor, a
150-MB hard disk drive (or one as close
to that size as possible), and 4 MB of
RAM. In that configuration, the Everex
Step 486/33 with a 160-MB drive is the
most expensive of the group, with a list
price of $11,899. A comparable AST
Premium 486/33 with a 110-MB drive
costs $10,619, which is roughly 10 per-
cent less.

If price is your only consideration,
however, you can read this paragraph
and skip the rest of the review. The Hawk
III in our comparison configuration costs
only $6989, and that's with a 158-MB
drive. The others just can't compete with
the Hawk Ill's rock-bottom mail-order
price, even considering typical dealer
discounts for the Premium 486/33 and
Step 486/33.

AST's Premium systems have one un-
usual advantage over the others: You can
start with a slower CPU and later up-
grade to the 33-MHz i486, or whatever
chip is the fastest Intel CPU at the time.
Still, the price difference between the
AST Premium 486/33 and the Club
American Hawk III is too much to pay
just for the upgrade privilege.

Fast, But Not the Fastest

Price comparisons are fair only when the
systems involved perform at about the
same level. As the graph shows, these
three systems definitely make price com-
parisons reasonable, because they pro-
duce very similar results on the B"!fTE
benchmarks. On the overall DOS appli-
cation index, the fastest machine of the
bunch, the AST Premium 486/33, is less
than 10 percent faster than the slowest,
the Hawk III— there's not a dog in the
group.

Still, none of them even comes close to
the 65.2 application index of the Tangent
Model 425 EISA bus machine that we re-
viewed last month — and the Tangent uses
only a 25-MHz i486 CPU! To resolve
this discrepancy, here's a closer look at
the benchmark results.

On the CPU front, the Step 486/33,
with a score of 9.0, is the clear winner.
Its score is over 20 percent better than the
7.4 of the Hawk III and the 7.2 of the
Premium 486/33. The Step 486/33 gets
its strong CPU score primarily from
Everex's Advanced Memory Manage-
ment Architecture cache controller,
which manages the system's external
128K-byte, 20-nanosecond static RAM
(SRAM) cache.

By forgoing an external cache and re-
lying solely on the i486's internal cache,
the Premium 486/33 turned in the lowest
CPU performance of the group. The
Hawk III, like the Everex system, has an
external cache. In fact, its 256K-byte
cache of 20-ns SRAM is twice the size of
the Step 486/33's. Because the Hawk
Ill's larger cache didn't give it the CPU
performance crown, we can only con-
clude that Everex's AMMA cache con-
troller must be better than the Hawk Ill's
cache manager.

CPU speed isn't the entire story, how-
ever, because all three machines beat the
Tangent's 6.6 CPU score, and yet lost to
the Tangent by a substantial margin in
overall application-level performance.
The answer, not surprisingly, lies pri-

REVIEW

High-Performance 486 ATs

190 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

The Everex Step 486/33
(top), AST's Premium 485
(center), and the Club
American Hawk III (bottom)
put i486 power on an AT
bus.

marily in disk performance.

All three systems have less than spec-
tacular disk scores. The slight edge goes
to the Step 486/33, with a score of 3.2 on
the low-level disk tests. The Hawk III
and Premium 486/33 were close behind,
at 3.0 and 2.3, respectively.

None, however, has a caching hard
disk drive controller, and that's where
the Tangent machine gets its perfor-
mance. The Tangent's BYTE disk index
of 10. 1 is due, in large part, to its Mylex
caching disk drive controller, with 4 MB
of on-board RAM. The lesson is clear: If
maximum performance is your goal, get
a caching disk drive controller.

The Unix benchmark suite produced
slightly different results. Here the Hawk
III came out on top, neck and neck with
the Step 486/33. Lower results in the
System Loading and Tower of Hanoi
tests dragged the Premium's cumulative
index down to third place.

The Ratings

With performance so close, the Hawk
Ill's price advantage looks more and

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 191

REVIEW

HIGH-PERFORMANCE 486 ATS

Premium 486/33 Model 115

Company

AST Research, Inc.
16215 Alton Pkwy.
Irvine, CA 92713
(714)727-4141

Components (as reviewed)

Processor: 33-MHz Intel i486; socket for
33-MHz Weitek WTL41 67 math coprocessor
Memory: 4 MB of SIMM-mounted RAM
Mass storage: 5V4-inch 1 .2-MB NEC floppy
disk drive; 110-MB Imprimis IDE hard disk
drive

Display: AST- VGA Plus 16-bit card; AST
Premium DisplayA/GA color monitor
Keyboard: 101 -key IBM Enhanced AT
layout

I/O interfaces: Two serial ports; one
parallel port; one 8-bit and six 16-bit AT-bus
expansion slots

Price

$10,619

inquiry 1108.

Hawk iii
Company

Club American Technologies, Inc.
3401 West Warren Ave.
Fremont, CA 94539
(415) 683-6600

Components (as reviewed)

Processor: 33-MHz Intel i486; socket for
33-MHz Weitek WTL41 67 math coprocessor
Memory: 8 MB of SIMM-mounted RAM;
256K bytes of cache RAM
Mass storage: 5y4-inch 1 .2-MB Teac floppy
disk drive; 158-MB Maxtor ESDI hard disk
drive; Data Tech 16-bit ESDI hard/floppy
disk drive controller

Display: Everex Viewpoint 16-bit VGA card;
Club multifrequency monitor
Keyboard: 101-key IBM Enhanced AT

layout

I/O Interfaces: Two serial ports; one
parallel port; seven 16-bit AT-bus expansion
slots

Price

$7674

Inquiry 1109.

Step 486/33

Company

Everex Systems, Inc.
48431 Milmont Dr.
Fremont, CA 94538
(800) 356-4283

Components (as reviewed)

Processor: 33-MHz Intel i486; socket for
33-MHz Weitek WTL41 67 math coprocessor
Memory: 8 MB of SIMM-mounted RAM;
1 28K bytes of cache RAM
Mass storage: 5y4-inch 1 .2-MB Teac floppy
disk drive; 330-MB Seagate ESDI hard disk
drive; Everex 16-bit ESDI hard/floppy disk
drive controller

Display: Everex Viewpoint 16-bit VGA card;
Everex multifrequency monitor
Keyboard: 101 -key modified IBM
Enhanced AT layout
I/O interfaces: Two serial ports; one
parallel port; one 8-bit and six 16-bit AT-bus
expansion slots

Price

$13,499

Inquiry 1110.

more important. Still, an inexpensive
system is almost useless if it's not reli-
able, so we took a close look at each of
the systems to see how well they're likely
to hold up.

All three systems are based on stable
architectures that their vendors have
used in previous machines. Nonetheless,
all three have change wires on the backs
of their motherboards, with the Step
486/33's nine wires the worst of the
bunch. We had no trouble with any of the
systems, but the motherboards clearly
could stand one more cleanup iteration.

All three motherboards also depend
heavily on discrete logic rather than ap-
plication-specific ICs, which are com-
mon in more mature machines. All three
boards have the telltale signs of early de-
signs, with over 100 chips on each board
(many of which are socketed) and almost
no surface mounting. The vendors had
no choice— as we've noted before, they
are ahead of the chip-set makers— but
486 systems are likely to become cheaper
and more reliable when i486 support
chips become commonly available.

A reliable system not only must stay
up, it also must be able to run the pro-
grams you expect it to run and work with
the boards you plan to put into it. These
three machines did well on the first
front, running over two dozen test appli-
cations without a hitch. Their hardware

results were almost as good. They had no
trouble with our test add-in boards, but
one problem did surface: None of the ma-
chines would work with our Xircom
Pocket Ethernet Adapter. A Xircom
spokesperson claimed that 33-MHz 486
systems are sometimes too fast for the
Pocket Ethernet Adapter's control logic.
Xircom fans can relax, though; Xircom
is preparing a patch that should be avail-
able before this review sees print. Still,
this problem serves to indicate the un-
usual difficulties that sometimes lurk in
leading-edge systems.

Another aspect of reliability that you
must consider is what to do when some-
thing goes wrong with the system. All
three vendors offer the same basic solu-
tion to this problem: a one-year parts-
and-labor warranty that requires you to
ship the broken system or part to the ven-
dor for repair. Service for the Premium
486/33 is also typically available from
the nearest AST dealer.

Everex is the only one of these vendors
that gives you the choice of on-site ser-
vice as well. We've heard some computer
vendors gripe about the quality of the on-
site service from national third-party
service firms, but we still think that sys-
tems as powerful as these three should
come with on-site service.

The final reliability concern that any
buyer- but particularly those in large or-

ganizations—must consider is the reli-
ability of the vendor itself. The best ser-
vice contract in the world is no good if
the vendor offering it will be gone tomor-
row. Fortunately, even Club American,
the smallest vendor of the three, has sold
over 200,000 systems and has annual
sales of over $250 million. No computer
company is ever entirely safe, but these
firms seem to have the critical mass nec-
essary to stay in business long enough to
fix any problems that you're likely to
encounter.

Extra Points

One kind of problem that can occur even
in perfectly functioning systems is lack
of room to grow. You never know when
you'll need more disk storage space, ex-
pansion slots, or memory.

All three systems have reasonable disk
expansion space, but here again, the
Hawk III is the clear winner. Its floor-
standing tower case is cavernous, with
one full-height and five half-height 5 U-
inch bays in front. If that's not enough,
there's room for another full-height 5 '/4-
inch drive on an arm that swings out be-
hind the other drive bays.

The other two systems, by contrast,
are more traditional desktop units. Each
has five half-height 5!4-inch bays. With
one of those bays dedicated to the floppy
disk drive, each system can hold only two

192 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

-4 Worse 1

DOS BENCHMARKS

APPLICATION-LEVEL PERFORMANCES

Better ►

AST Premium 486/33
Everex Step 486/33
Club American Hawk III

IBM PC AT

4.6

5.5

4.2

5.5

12.1

11.2 9.4 52.6

5.6

5.3

3.9

5.3

11.8

9.8

8.0

49.7

5.4

5.0

3.9

5.3

12.1

9.8

7.8

49.4

7.0

Word Desktop

Processing

< Worse 1

Publishing

□

Database

□

Compilers

□

CAD

Scientific/
Engineering

LOW-LEVEL PERFORMANCE

Spreadsheet

Better ►

AST Premium 486/33
Everex Step 486/33
Club American Hawk I
IBM PC AT

7.2

32.8

2.2

14.6

9.0 32.7

3.2 14.4

7.4

33.4

3.0 15.0

□ cPU □ FPU

a Disi<

CONVENTIONAL BENCHMARKS

LINPACK

Dhrystones

(single)

(Dhry./sec.)

(MFLOPS)

AST Premium 486/33 0.8947

25849.4

Everex Step 486/33 0.8959

26912.9

Club Hawk III 0.9263

27472.3

IBM PC AT 0.0210

2317.9

For application and low-level benchmarks, results are indexed and show relative performance; for each
individual index, an 8-MHz IBM PC AT running MS-DOS 3.30 = 1 . For all benchmarks, higher numbers
indicate better performance.

The BYTE low-level benchmark suite identifies performance differences between machines at the hardware
level; the application benchmarks evaluate real-world performance by running a standard test suite using
commercially available applications. Application indexes include tests using the following programs; Word
processing: WordPerfect 5.0; Desktop Publishing: Aldus PageMaker 3.0; Database: Borland Paradox 3.0 and
Ashton-Tate dBASE IV; Compilers: Microsoft C 5.1 and Turbo Pascal 5.5; CAD: AutoCAD release 10 and
Generic CADD level 31.1.5: Scientific/Engineering; Stata release 2. MathCAD 2.5. and PC-Matlab 3.5f; and
Spreadsheet: Lotus 1-2-3 release 3.0 and Microsoft Excel 2.1 .

The BYTE Lab introduced version 2.0 of the DOS benchmarks in the August issue (see "BYTE's New
Benchmarks: New Looks. New Numbers"). Benchmark results for machines reviewed under previous
versions aren't directly comparable. To obtain a copy of the benchmarks, join the listings area of the
byte.bmarks conference on BIX or contact BYTE directly.

UNIX BENCHMARKS

SUMMARla

AST Premium 486/33
Everex Step 486/33
Club American Hawk III 0.8

Everex Step 386/33

0.7

2.6

1.6

1.5

0.8

2.6

3

9.8

0.6

2.6 2.1

1.8

0.8

2.6

10.4

0.8

2.7 1.9

1.8

0.8

2.6

10.7

6.0

□

C Compiler

□

DC Arithmetic

□

Tower of Hanoi

□

System Loading

□

□

Dhrystone 2 I I Floating Point

Note: The graph above summarizes the results of the Unix benchmarks (version 2.6). All results are indexed to show relative performance; for each test, an Everex Step 386/33 running Xenix
2.3. 1 = 1. The cumulative index is formed by summing the indexed performance results for the tests. Comprehensive results are available by contacting BYTE.

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REVIEW

full-height devices.

The three systems are identical when it
comes to expansion slots. Each has seven
AT-bus slots, five of which were open in
our test units. All three systems put the
serial and parallel port logic on the
motherboard. Each used two slots, one of
which always held the VGA card. The
Step 486/33 and the Hawk III filled the
second slot with a floppy/ESDI hard disk
drive controller. The Premium 486/33
had its floppy/hard disk drive controller
logic on the motherboard, but its proces-
sor card consumed a slot.

Memory expansion is the one area in
which the Hawk III comes up a bit short.
Its motherboard can hold eight 1-MB sin-
gle in-line memory modules (SIMMs),
and there is room for eight more on an
optional memory board ($135 with no
RAM) that uses a proprietary slot. This
16-MB limit is more than enough for al-
most any DOS or OS/2 work, but if you
plan to make the machine a LAN server
or a multiuser Unix box, you might wish
for a higher memory ceiling.

The Premium 486/33 wins the mem-
ory-expansion crown. It uses the same
processor and memory arrangement as
the other AST Cupid-32 systems that
BYTE has reviewed. A processor card
holds the i486 CPU and four SIMMs of
either 1 MB or 4 MB each. The Premium
486/33 also can accommodate up to two
32-bit memory cards (which cost $500
each, including 1 MB of RAM). Each
card can house 16 1-MB SIMMs, for a
maximum possible memory configura-
tion of 48 MB.

The Step 486/33 is in the middle of the
group, with a maximum of 32 MB of
RAM. A single memory board, which
goes into a proprietary expansion slot,
can hold either 16 1-MB SIMMs or eight
4-MB SIMMs.

The high performance of these ma-
chines supports a claim that we've been
making for some time: There's no reason
to go to an EISA system unless you need a
specific EISA card. Put a caching disk
drive controller in any of these systems,
and you will have one of the fastest PCs
available.

Choosing a single winner in a compar-
ative review is often difficult, but not this
time. The low price and roomy cabinet of
Club American's Hawk III make it the
clear pick of this bunch. ■

MarkL. Van Name and Bill CatMngs are
BYTE contributing editors. Both are also
independent computer consultants and
freelance writers based in Raleigh, North
Carolina. You can reach them on BIX as
"mvanname " and "wbc3, " respectively.

192B B Y T E • NOVEMBER 1990 Circle 99 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 100)

25 MHz 486 Speed Fo
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^^^^^f This XT/ AT motherboard
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is 100 times the throughput of an 80287
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Number Smasher® 386/25 ^

This AT accelerator board replaces your 80286 with
an 80386 clocked at 20 or 25 MHz. It is socketed for 8
Megabytes of 32 bit RAM, an 80387, Cyrix CX83D87, or
Weitek 3167 and a 64K SRAM cache. The numeric perfor-
mance of the Number Smasher 386/25 is a strong function of
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WE'VE TAKEN THE
INDUSTRIAL PC
TO EVERY EXTREME.

Companies don't make the
Fortune 100 list by accident. It takes
hard work and the wise investment
of capital. Which is why when they
buy industrial PCs, seven out of every
ten Fortune 100 companies invest
in Texas Microsystems.

UNBEATABLE PERFORMANCE
IN ANY ENVIRONMENT.

Most people assume that an
industrial PC will give the reliability
needed to run critical applications
in harsh environments, but the trade
off can be a lack of performance
and high cost of entry With Texas
Microsystems the reverse is true.

Benchmark studies show that in
harsh environments Texas Micro-
systems 25/33 MHz 386 & 25MHz
486 PCs perform as well as powerful
desktop PCs do in office environ-
ments. Yet the cost of our systems
can be a pleasant surprise.

DESKTOP PERFORMANCE
UNDER EXTREME CONDITIONS.

CPU BENCHMARKS

PRODUCT 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 SO 90 100

Landmark \'2.0

BUILT IN RELIABILITY
FROM THE BOARD UP.

We build our systems from
scratch, and take nothing for granted.
We've been designing with Intel
microprocessors since 1974. Design
and manufacture most of our cards.
And by using VLSI and PAL tech-
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Texas Microsystems innovations
include passive backplane architec-
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and reduce MTTR to less than 10
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MORE SYSTEMS
MEAN MORE OPTIONS.

Two of ourmost popular systems
are shown here. They can be con-
figured with a vast choice of options

from CPUs, hard disks and drives,
CMOS RAM, video cards and dis-
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you need.

TO US "INDUSTRIAL" IS MORE
THAN A DESIGN PHILOSOPHY.

You can buy cheaper industrial
PCs than ours, but they may be
camouflaged desktops that do not
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At Texas Microsystems, that isn't
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PCs and Mission Critical Micros "
are all we make. Repackaging office
computers is not our business. We
design and manufacture all our
products from scratch, we don't
adapt the designs of others. And

EXCEPT PMCE.

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we're always here when you need us.

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Opposite are two Texas Micro-
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Order them direct or ask for a com-
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on all our systems by calling
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TWO EXTREMELY
UNBEATABLE SYSTEMS.

Here are two of our top selling
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that demand mission critical com-
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And to put a little icing on the
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To order, call the 800 number
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Mission Critical Micros is a trademark of Texas Micros\3tems Inc..
all other trademarks mentioned are registered, trademarked or
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TEXAS
MICRO

SYSTEMS

Texas Microsystems, Inc.
10618 Rockley Rd., Houston, Texas 77099
Tel: 713-933-8050. Fax: 713-933-1029

TEXAS MICROSYSTEM 4108

MISSION CRITICAL OFFICE PC
Features

• Choice of 80286, 80386, 80486 processors.

• Perfect for data acquisition, communications
and networking applications.

• 8 full length ISA slots for industry' standard
cards.

• Up to 1 6MB of RAM on CPU, three half-
height 5.25" bays for floppy hard drives and
one 3.5" hard drive.

• Super VGA graphics (1024 x 768 pixels)
Also supports CGA, EGA.

• 1 parallel and 2 serial ports.

• 101-key enhanced keyboard with DIN
connector on rear panel.

• 220 watt power supply.

• One yeai; on site \s'arranty included.

Specifications

• Dimensions: 6.5"x I7"x 16.5," 30 lbs.

• Power 220 Watt, 110 V

• Operating environment.

Temperature: 0°C to 55°C. [32'¥ to BTF)
Altitude: 1 5,000 feet equivalent

System Prices

CPU

Model

MHz-RAM

Storage

Price

4216

286/16-1

40MB HD,
1.2 or 1.44MB
floppv

S2,900

4320

386.20-1

40.VIB HD,
1.2 or 1.44MB
floppv

S3,755

4325

386 25-1

104MB HD,
1.2 or 1.44MB
floppv

54,530

4333

386 33-2

104MB HD,
1.2 or 1.44MB
floppv

S5,135

4425

486/25-4

104MB HD,
1.2 or 1.44MB
floppy

S5,995

'From S2,900. Monitor not inciuded.

TEXAS MICROSYSTEM 3014

RUGGEDIZED RACK-MOUNT PC
Features

■ Choice of 80286, 80386, 80486 processors.

• 18-gauge nickel plated, steel chassis.

• 14 full length ISA slots for industry standard
cards.

• Boards bracketed and braced on all four edges.
•Two 110 CFM fans.

• Up to 16MB of RAM on CPU, and five half-
height storage bays for hard drives, floppy
and or tape backup.

• SuperVGA graphics (1024x768 pixels)
Also supports CGA, EGA.

' 1 parallel and 2 serial ports.

• Built in speakei; door lock, power and CPU
reset switch.

' 101-key enhanced keyboard with DIN
connector on front panel.

• 225 \vatt power supply.

• One yeai; on site warranty included.

Specifications

• Dimensions: I9"x 22.18 "x 6.96." Wt. 45 lbs.

• Power 95-132 180-264 VAC, 47 to 63Hz.

• Operating environment.

Temperature: 0°C to 55°C. (32^ to 131°?)
Humidity: To 95% at 40°C non-
condensing
Altitude: 15,000 feet equivalent
Vibration: .25G, 5-lOOHz operating

5G, 5-lOOHz non-operating
Shock: LOG operating at 10 Msec
duration

System Prices

CPU/

Model

MHz-RAM

Storage

Price

3216

286/16-1

40MB HD,
1.2 orL44MB
floppv

S3,825

3320

386/20-1

40MB HD,
1.2 or 1.44MB
floppv

S4,650

3325

386/25-1

104MB HD.
1.2 or 1.44MB
floppv

S5,430

3333

386 33-2

104MB HD.
1.2 or 1.44MB
floppv

S6,040

3425

486 25-4

104MB HD.

56,895

1.2 or 1.44MB

floppy

'From S3, 825. Rackmount monitor not included.

EVEN ORDERING IS EXTREMELY EASY. CALL

1-800-627-8700

Circle 340 on Reader Service Card

HARDWARE

Rick Grehan

REVIEW

FPU ftce-Of f

Sometimes there's no way out. Un-
less you want to fossilize in front
of your PC waiting for that CAD
drawing to complete, a math coprocessor
is your only hope. Not long ago, the only
choice was to buy an Intel coprocessor.
No longer. Several coprocessor vendors
now are trying to fill that empty socket
next to your 286, 386, or i486.

Whether you have a 286-, 386-, or
i486-class machine, you've probably got
at least one application— possibly a criti-
cal one— that could use the kind of speed
boost that only an FPU can give. CAD
and other scientific and engineering pro-
grams, spreadsheets, and, to a lesser ex-
tent, some database programs, can bene-
fit from an FPU.

I looked at a sampling of coprocessors
for 286- , 386- , and i486-class machines
that should fit anybody's needs. The
80287-class chips include the 80287XL
from Intel, the 80C287 from Advanced
Micro Devices (AMD), and the 2C87
from Integrated Information Technol-
ogy. The 80387-class chips include the
Intel 80387DX, the Cyrix FastMath
83D87, the IIT 3C87, and the Weitek
Abacus 3167. In the i486 arena, I mea-
sured the Weitek Abacus 4167 against
the i486 CPU's built-in FPU. I then
rounded up a group of test machines and
put the FPUs through a battery of tests
(see the figure). Before reviewing the
test results, though, you'll want to under-
stand how these FPUs work and the fea-
tures that differentiate each chip from its
competition.

Intel

Intel hasn't been sitting on its laurels;
while other vendors have been introduc-
ing 80287 and 80387 clones, Intel has
quietly refined its own FPUs. Its new
80287XL and 80387DX chips run sub-
stantially faster than the chips the com-
pany shipped just six months ago.

Intel's 80287XL, the successor to In-
tel's 80287, is an 80387 in 80287 cloth-
ing. Though hardware-compatible with
the 80287, the 80287XL incorporates the
numerics core of the 80387 coprocessor
family. This means that you can access
all the 803 87 's advanced instructions.
However, your applications software
must be aware of the 80287XL to take ad-
vantage of its added capabilities. But
from a developer's standpoint, it's easy
to construct a routine that detects the
presence of an 80387-class coprocessor

by carrying out a prescribed set of opera-
tions and examining the results. Best of
all, the 80287XL is a CMOS component.
It consumes about one-third the current
of a standard 80287 and is 50 percent
faster, according to Intel.

Intel's 80387 needs no introduction:
It's at work in more 386 systems than any
other coprocessor. The new 80387DX
chip, introduced earlier this year, takes
advantage of an improved chip manufac-
turing process that Intel claims provides
20 percent faster performance than its
predecessors. The 80387 is a direct de-
scendent of Intel's 80287 and 8087 co-
processors. However, the 80387 carries
an improved instruction set. Some im-
provements are minor, while others are
an application builder's dream. In par-
ticular, the 80387 beefs up trigonometric
functions, which are particularly critical
to two-dimensional and 3-D CAD
applications.

Intel's 25-MHz i486 processor looks
much like a 386/80387 combination. In
the tests I ran, there's a significant per-
formance hike between the 386/80387
and the i486, thanks to the integration of
the coprocessor into the CPU. (For more
on the i486, see "The 80486: A Hard-
ware Perspective," IBM Special Edition,
Fall 1989.)

AMD

At press time, AMD only offered 80287-
class coprocessors. Its 80C287 is more or
less a faithful reproduction of the Intel
80287. Like Intel's 80287XL, it has
CMOS internals, so power consumption
is less than that of a typical 80287: At 10
MHz, the AMD 80C287 consumes about
100 milliamperes of current, while a
stock 80287 takes somewhere in the
neighborhood of 400 mA.

The AMD 80EC287, which I did not
test for this review, is essentially an

80C287
80EC287

Company

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
901 Thompson Place
P.O. Box 3453
Sunnyvale, CA 94088
(408) 732-2400

Price

80C287-10: $99
80EC287-10:$109

Inquiry 1061.

80C287 with a low-power sleep mode.
The 80EC287 enters sleep mode when-
ever the coprocessor isn't executing an
instruction. In this mode, the 10-MHz
version draws only about 10 mA. Both
the 80C287 and 80EC287 are likely in-
habitants for 286 laptops. The AMD
chips require no minimum on their clock
speeds, and since power consumption is
tied to clock speed, a clever, energy-con-
scious design can result in an even lower
average power usage. The 80EC287 is
also fully static, so you can actually stop
its clock, which drops the power draw
down to about 5 mA.

Weitek

Weitek 's FPUs operate exclusively on
386 and 486 systems. The Abacus 3167
and 4167 coprocessors are not Intel
clones. Their internal structure is mark-
edly different from that of the 80x87-
series coprocessors, and they're not pin-
compatible with the 80x87, so to use
them your computer must have a Weitek
socket. On the other hand, since the Aba-
cus chips don't respond to 80x87 instruc-
tions, you can run both an 80387 and a
3167 in the same machine.

An x-ray view of Intel's FPUs reveals
a set of eight 80-bit data registers. Al-
though you can address the registers indi-
vidually, you can also treat the entire set
as an eight-element stack. The Abacus
FPUs have no stack architecture, so you
can only address each of the 31 registers
individually. The registers also have a
dual nature: Ordinarily, each is 32 bits
wide; however, you can pair 30 of the
registers (starting with number 2) into 15
64-bit megaregisters for double-precision
mathematics.

The Abacus chips are also memory-
mapped. As such, they don't look for
Intel coprocessor instructions. Instead,
the chips occupy a 64K-byte window in

80287XL
80387DX
i486

Company

Intel Corp.

1900 Prairie City Rd.

Mail Stop FM2-18

Folsom, CA 95630

(916)351-2747

Price

80287XL-10: $370
80387DX-33: $994

1486-25: $722 each in quantities of 1000
Inquiry 1062.

194 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

physical memory (starting at address
OCOOOOOOO hexadecimal). The Abacus
chips decode locations within that win-
dow to trigger specific instructions. For
example, writing into the memory ad-
dress at offset 800h within the window
causes the Abacus chips to execute a sin-
gle-precision multiply instruction.

The advantage to using a memory-
mapped architecture is speed. The con-
ventional approach — taken by Intel and
the Intel clone vendors— requires both
instructions and data to pass to the copro-
cessor via the data bus. Furthermore, the
FPU must decode coprocessor instruc-
tions coming down the data bus, which
creates additional time overhead. The
memory-mapped approach puts the in-
struction on the address lines. So, a sin-
gle MOV instruction transfers the in-
struction and the data to the FPU.

One Abacus feature not highlighted in
my tests is the coprocessors' matrix ca-
pabilities. While the coprocessor de-
codes addresses in its memory window to
determine which operation to perform,
the situation is actually more complex.
The Abacus chips perform further de-
coding on the address lines to select
source and target registers. And Weitek's
designers have constructed the coproces-
sors so that those address lines that select
the target registers fall on doubleword
boundaries. The upshot of all this is that
you can use fast REP STOSD and REP
MOVSD instructions to do rapid vector
operations. For example, I can quickly
load the eight single-precision registers
starting with register 1 using

LEA ESI.ARRAYSTART

MOV ECX,8

MOV EDI,0C0000404H

REP MOVSD

where I'm assuming the code is execut-

ing in the 386's "flat" addressing mode.
Applications software that is aware of
this feature should realize a performance
gain beyond what the benchmark tests
reveal.

IIT

IIT offers both 80287- and 80387-class
chips. The 2C87 and 3C87 are CMOS
parts; as an example of the reduced
power requirements, the 3C87 uses 25
percent less current than an 80387. Both
are fully hardware and software compat-
ible with their Intel equivalents, although
IIT claims both have better performance
than Intel coprocessors. Both have low-
power sleep modes that make them at-
tractive to laptop designers.

But the IIT coprocessors aren't just
faster and cooler (lower power consump-
tion means less heat dissipation). Where
Intel coprocessors possess a single set of
eight floating-point registers, the IIT
chips hold 32 registers, grouped into
three banks of eight registers each.
When you power up an IIT chip, its bank
pointer sets to bank 0. The coprocessor
recognizes four custom instructions that
look like 80x87 instructions but aren't
defined for the 80x87 instruction reper-
toire. Three of these custom instructions
set the bank pointer to each of the three
register banks. It's like having three
chips in one, reducing the overhead of
memory-to-FPU (and back) instructions.

Ordinarily, there's no cross talk be-
tween the register banks; the coprocessor
is aware of only the currently active
bank. The fourth custom instruction,
F4X4, however, does operate on more
than one bank. The F4X4 instruction
multiplies two 4x4 matrices in a single
instruction. (Matrix multiplication is
common in 3-D graphics applications,
such as CAD and animation software.)
The elements of the matrices are spread

throughout the register banks. The re-
sult—a four-element vector— lands in
bankO. This instruction reduces 16 mul-
tiplications and 12 additions (using clas-
sical matrix multiplication formulas) to a
single instruction.

Cyrix

Cyrix makes only an 80387-class FPU.
The differences between the Cyrix Fast-
Math 83D87 and an Intel 80387 are sub-
tle. The 83D87 uses CMOS circuitry for
lower power consumption and automati-
cally kicks into low-power mode when
idle (the company claims that this re-
duces the chip's overall power draw to 5
percent of that of an 80387). The 83D87
is also faster than a standard 80387.

However, the engineers at Cyrix are
proudest of the 83D87 processor's accu-
racy when calculating transcendental
functions (i.e., exponentiation, loga-
rithm, and trigonometric). The Intel co-
processors—and the AMD clones— per-
form transcendental operations using a
variation of an algorithm known as the
CORDIC routine. This algorithm is an
approximation technique that — at least
for the trigonometric functions— arrives
at its solution via a series of angular rota-
tions. Intel publishes the relative error
bound for such approximations at the six-
ty-second bit position.

The Cyrix coprocessor evaluates tran-
scendental functions using a polynomial
approximation. Ordinarily, this would
be prohibitively expensive in terms of
execution time, since a polynomial eval-
uation requires a series of floating-point
multiplications and additions, while the
Intel FPUs' CORDIC algorithm uses
only shifts and adds. However, the Cyrix
chip's execution unit is built into the cir-
cuitry and is therefore much faster than
the Intel chips' microcode sequencer.
Simply put, where the Intel chips have to

l^stMath 83D87

Company

Cyrix

P.O. Box 85011 8
Richardson, TX 75085
(800) 327-6284

Price

83D87-33: $994
Inquiry 1063.

2C87
3C87

Company

Integrated Information Technology, Inc.
2445 Mission College Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95054
(408)727-1885

Price

2C87-10:$319
3C87-33: $779

Abacus 3167
Abacus 4167

Company

Weitek

1060 East Arqes Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94088
(800) 468-3167

Price

3167-33: $995
4167-25: $995

Inquiry 1064.

Inquiry 1065.

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 195

REVIEW

FPU Face-Off

FPU BENCHMARK RESULTS

80287-class coprocessors 80387-class coprocessors

i486-class coprocessors

Fmath

(iterations x 1 0 ^
per second)

Fourier

(iterations
per second)

Single UNPACK

(MFLOPS)

Double LINPACK

(MFLOPS)

< Worse

Better ►

J

Better ► ■ -4 Worse

Better ►

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0

1

3 0

1

H IIT2C87-10
E3 Intel 80287XL-10
□ AMD80C287-10

@ Weitek 31 67-33

□ Cyrix 83D87-33

□ I IT 3087-33

□ Intel 80387DX-33

^ Weitek 4167-25
CZ! lnteli486-25

In the 80287-class category, the IIT2C87 clearly outperformed both Intel 's 80287XL and the AMD 80C287. Surprisingly, the
80C287, a CMOS chip, was slower than the 80287XI^the new CMOS version of Intel 's 80287 FPU. Since the 80287 can 't
perform 32-bit moves, the double LINPACK test doesn 't apply. The Abacus 3167 performed best overall in the 80387-class
category, but it's not 80387-compatible, so your application has to support it. In the 80387-compatible category, Cyrix 's
FastMath 83D87 posted strong results across the board. The 3 167 has no Fourier results because it doesn 't directly support
trigonometric functions (see the text for details). Weitek 's Abacus 41 67 outperformed Intel 's i486 in the Fmath and single
LINPACK tests but came up short on the double LINPACK. There are no Fourier results for the 41 67 because it doesn 't directly
support trigonometric functions (see the text for details).

run itty-bitty programs to perform multi-
plications, the Cyrix chip does the multi-
plication in hardware.

The advantage of polynomial approxi-
mation is that it keeps errors below the
sixty-fifth bit. IIT also uses polynomial
approximation and a hardware multiplier
but claims an upper error bound in only
the sixty-second bit. An error difference
between the sixty-second and sixty-fifth
bit (2*^ and 2*') may seem minor, and for
most business applications— which car-
ry, at best, 53 bits of precision— it cer-
tainly is. If you're heavily into scientific
or engineering number crunching, how-
ever, you may want to consider the Cyrix
chip.

Cyrix also provided me with an early
version of its new EMC87 coprocessor,
which is best described as an Intel/Wei-
tek hybrid. (Since this chip was a proto-
type, I didn't include the test results in

the figure.) The EMC87 has all the inter-
nals of the 83D87, so you get the benefit
of Intel compatibility plus the Cyrix
speed and accuracy. But, as with the
Abacus chips, you can also access the
EMC 87 in memory-mapped mode. I ran
a preliminary test on the EMC87 in both
Intel-compatible mode and memory-
mapped mode and saw a performance in-
crease on the order of 20 percent.

The Gauntlet

I used three machines as my testing ar-
senal. For the 80287-class coprocessors,
I used a 10-MHz Microserve AT clone.
A Club American Hawk 33-MHz 386
system served as my test machine for
the 80387-class coprocessors. Finally, I
used a Compaq Deskpro 486/25 for gen-
erating the i486 and Weitek 4167 tests. If
you have a 25-MHz 386 system or an 8-
MHz 286 system, don't despair; vendors

offer their FPUs in several speeds, and
the relative performance numbers should
be the same within each processor class.

Testing math coprocessors is messy
work, for several reasons. It requires
wading into DOS extenders and 32-bit
programming. I lived in constant fear
that a statically charged and misplaced
finger would bring testing to a halt. And
I quickly discovered that coprocessor
sockets aren't designed to let you take
chips back out. This is especially true of
the monstrous grid-array sockets that
hold the 80387 clones and the Weitek
chips. The expression "like pulling
teeth" is all too appropriate.

I ran two different groups of bench-
marks. First, I ran the FPU components
of BYTE's low-level benchmarks on
those coprocessors that would readily ac-
cept them (see "BYTE's New Bench-
marks: New Looks, New Numbers,"

196 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

utilities for WINDGWS aO Users

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REVIEW

FPU Face-Off

August BYTE). The exceptions were
Weitek's Abacus chips and the Cyrix
EMC87 when it was operating in mem-
ory-mapped mode.

The BYTE FPU benchmarks expect
80x87 compatibility, so I had to craft a
separate set of benchmarks for these
chips. To do this, I used Phar Lap's
386|ASM assembler and Run386 DOS
extender, accompanied by some assem-
bly language macros from Weitek. When
you execute Run386, it senses the pres-
ence of an Abacus chip and creates a se-
lector that you can use to address the co-
processor. Using Weitek's macros, I eas-
ily constructed an Abacus equivalent of
the Fmath benchmark. I didn't build a
version of the Fourier benchmark for the
Abacus chips, because they don't direct-
ly support trigonometric functions.

If you need transcendental functions,
Weitek provides a software library that it
claims is faster than on-chip operations.
The Cyrix EMC87 appears in the same
memory-mapped region as the Abacus
chips, and I discovered that you can force
Run386 to build the selector as though an
Abacus chip were present. So, a few
modifications to the Abacus benchmark

^heFPU

benchmarks produced
some clear leaders
in each category.

yielded an EMC87 version of Fmath.

I also ran the LINPACK, a popular
floating-point benchmark written in
FORTRAN. I chose Lahey F77L FOR-
TRAN as the compiler, since it is avail-
able in a 32-bit version bundled with
Eclipse Systems' OS/386 DOS extender.
I ran both single-precision and, for the
386 and 486 systems, double-precision
versions of the LINPACK. The double-
precision LINPACK is so large that it can
only run in 32-bit mode. Hence, I could
run only the single-precision version on
the 286 machines. The results of all the
tests are shown in the figure.

If your applications consist primarily
of spreadsheets and bookkeeping calcu-

lations, the Fmath results should give you
a good picture of the chips' rankings.
Fmath tests the fundamental operations:
addition, subtraction, multiplication, and
division. If your work involves scientific
or engineering calculations, or if you're
a 3-D CAD user, the Fourier test is a
good indicator of coprocessor perfor-
mance in the more esoteric areas of tran-
scendental calculations. The results of
the LINPACK test provide an overall
measurement of the coprocessors' float-
ing-point throughput.

FPU Finalists

The FPU benchmarks produced some
clear leaders in each category. Weitek's
Abacus 4167 proved an able companion
for the Deskpro 486/25, outperforming
the i486's integrated FPU on all but the
double LINPACK test. One possible ex-
planation: The 4167 must perform two
doubleword moves to load its chip regis-
ters with double-precision values. By
contrast, the i486 requires only a single
instruction. With a list price of $995, the
Abacus 4167 isn't cheap, but it's your
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486's math performance.

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PERFORMANCE COMPARISON -n

CLUB
HAWK III

(1486-33)

Compaq Deskpro

(1486-33)

AST Premium

(i486-33)

CLUB
HAWK II

(1486-25)

Compaq Deskpro
(i486-25)

AST Premium

(1486-25)

21.0 MIPS

20.0 MIPS

20.0 MIPS

17.5 MIPS

16.0 MIPS

15.0 MIPS;

VAX MIPS

been installed in corporations
world wide. That's why CLUB's
systems are called the Ultimate
Business Computers. Put yourself
on the fast track and call today
for more information.

"CLUB AT prides itself on being an
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tions. ... [ CLUB ] combines field-leading
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ledgeable technical support at an exception-
ally low price. " pc Magazine, February, 1990

"When it comes to the basics - price,
performance, and ... capacity - [ CLUB ]
delivers outrageous value. "

PC World, Best Buy Award 1989

For more information call:

Continental USA, Hawaii, and Alaska:

(415) 683-6600

Fax: (415) 490-2687

CLUB Canada, Toronto: (416) 609-8121
International Sales: (415) 683-6623

Call for Corporate and Educational Discounts
GSA # GS00K90AGS5260

American Technologies, Inc.

The Ultimate Business Computers Ad9v.i/9-«

The above mentioned brands and names are trademarks of their respective companies.

Circle 70 on Reader Service Card

Circle 154 on Reader Service Card

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REVIEW

FPU Face-Off

In the 386/80387 category, Weitek
again came out on top with its Abacus
3167. At S995, this is also the most ex-
pensive chip in this category. To use this
chip, your machine must have a Weitek
FPtF socket, and the applications soft-
ware you're running must support the
3167. (Weitek provides a list of software
packages that are compatible with the
Abacus coprocessors.)

Also, if accuracy is critical, keep in
mind that the Weitek chips can only han-
dle single- and double-precision floating-
point numbers. They don't support the
IEEE 80-bit extended-precision numbers
that some scientific and engineering ap-
plications might require. This is not a
problem for the majority of applications,
however.

If the Abacus 3167 doesn't fit your
needs, the next logical choice is Cyrix's
$994 83D87. If 3-D transformations are
all the floating-point work you ever do,
and your software supports IIT's custom
instructions, the 3C87 may be a contend-
er. But the 83D87 is faster than anything
other than the Abacus 3 167, is Intel com-
patible, and is priced on a par with Intel's
80387DX. Tack the 38D87's improved
transcendental accuracy on top of that,
and you've got a winner.

You may also want to check out the
Cyrix EMC87, which should be avail-
able by the time you read this. It's got all
the advantages of the 83D87, plus a
memory-mapped architecture. If the
final version performs as well as the
83D87, it will give the Abacus 3167 a
run for its money.

In the 80287 arena, most manufac-
turers are aggressively pricing their co-
processors, and AMD leads the way with
its $99 80C287. Note, however, that
price is just about the only thing that the
AMD coprocessors have going for them;
the 80C287 won't set any speed records.
Best performance is a toss-up between
IIT's 2C87 ($319) and Intel's 80287XL
($370). The 2C87 is slightly faster and
less expensive, but the 80287XL enjoys
the extra 80387-type instructions. No ap-
plications yet support IIT's custom in-
structions or the 80287XL's 80387 in-
structions. But developers are likely to
support the Intel chip first.

My benchmark results are a good
guide to performance. But as with most
computer peripherals, the best bench-
mark is to grab your critical software,
find a computer store that sells coproces-
sors, and go for a test drive. ■

Rick Grehan is the director of the BYTE
Lab. He can be contacted on BIX as
"rick_g. "

200 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 316 on Reader Service Card

Scalable fonts in a cartridge.
No longer just a dream.

L

-magine how your documents
would look if you could substitute
ordinary printer fonts with typeset
style fonts. Instead of Times®, you
could use distinctive CG Palacio®. Or
add flair with Letraset® Revue™.
Imagine choosing from up to 51 differ-
ent fonts, including CG Bodoni®, CG
Palacio, Shannon'", Revue and ITC
Bookman®, that can be scaled to any
size, in quarter point increments from
0.25 to 999.75.

You've dreamed about such things
for your Hewlett-Packard LaserJet"' EI.
Pacific Outlines® make the dream real.

These easy-to-use cartridges
eliminate the need for soft fonts,
accelerating your work and saving disk
space. Pacific Outlines offer qualit}'
scalable type from Agfa/Compugraphic,
and ready-to-use software drivers for
several major software applications.

Offered at a price that won't cause
nightmares. To learn more, call or
write: Pacific Data Products,
9125 Rehco Rd., San Diego, CA 92121,
(619) 552-0880. FAX: (619) 552-0889.

© 1990 Pacii'ic Data Products, Inc. Macie ir the U.S.A. Paciiic Outhnes is a trademark of Pacific Data Products, Inc. LaserJet
is a registered trademark of Hewlett-Packard Company- Scalable type outlines are licensed from Agfa Corporation, Agfa
Compugraphtc Division. CG Bodoni and CG Palacio are registered trademarks and Shannon is a trademark of Agfa
Corporation. Letraset is a registered trademark and Revue is a traden\ark of Esselte Pendaflex Corporation. UC Bookman is
a registered trademark of International Typeface Corporation. All other company and product names are trademarks of the
company or manufacturer respectively.

PACIFIC

DATA PRODUCTS

See us at Booth #W818

©C©mDffll/Fall'90

November 12-16. 1990
Las Vegas, Nevada

Circle 272 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 273)

Buy our IBM-compatible color

printer and get this Mac-compatible

color printer free.

The new Phaser PX Color Printer from Tektronix.

Only $7995

The price is as much of a breakthrough as anything
else. The Phaser PX offers PostScript-language com-
patibility and 300 dpi thermal-wax color that's brighter
and bolder than that of pricey competitors. And not
only can you hook it up to an office full of PCs via
serial or parallel, but it will also accommodate any

Macs that might come along. Automatically switch-
ing from port to port to keep everybody happy.

Add to that certified PANTONE'* Color that can
be printed on paper or transparencies, and you've got
a color printer that will do more for less money than
ever before.

So call 1-800-835-6100, Dept. llj to find out how
to get your hands on the new Tektronix Phaser PX.
Then you can kill two birds with one color printer.

The New TiBktronixPhaserPX'

'Pantone, Inc.s check-standard trademark for color reproduction and color reproduction materials. Copyright © 1990 Tektronix, Inc.

Buy our Mac-compatible color

printer aad get this IBM-compatible

color printer free.

The new Phaser PX Color Printer from Tektronix.

Only $7995

The price is as much of a breakthrough as anything
else. The Phaser PX offers PostScript-language com-
patibility and 300 dpi thermal-wax color that's brighter
and bolder than that of pricey competitors. And not
only can you hook it up to an office full of Macs via
AppleTalk, but it will also accommodate the PCs and

workstations that might come along. Automatically
switching from port to port to keep everybody happy.

Add to that certified PANTONE'* Color that can
be printed on paper or transparencies, and you've got
a color printer that will do more for less money than
ever before.

So call 1-800-835-6100, Dept. 11 J to find out how
to get your hands on the new Tektronix Phaser PX.
Then you can kill two birds with one color printer.

The New IMrofiixPhaserPX

All rights reserved. Phaser is a trademark of Tektronix, Inc. .Ml other trademarks mentioned herein belong to other companies.

Circle 393 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 394)

ALTEC TOW
ABOVE 1HE REST

Now you can have the power and performance of Altec's fully loaded 486 EISA
Tower delivered to your door! Check out these outstanding features:

486E1SATOWER CALL for mere information

Intel 486-25 CPU □ 4 Meg RAM □ 1 .2 MB 5.25"drive □ 1.44 MB 3.5" drive □ 150 MB 18ms ESDI hard drive

0 ESDI controller W/32K cache □ 16-bit VGA card □ 14' VGA monitor (1024 x 768) □ 2 serial. 1 parallel &

1 game ports □ 101-key Keyboard □ Genius Mouse □ MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01 □ Eight 32-bits EISA slots

MAGAZINE

"AltecZip 386s are solid machines featuring
brand-name parts. A good buy,
they are clearly affordable"

PC Magazine May 30, 1989

"Computer users should find Altec machine
an excellent value with good performance."

PC Magazim. July 1990

Altec sets the standard for the highest quality design and
manufacturing of ail our products. We're fast, friendly, and
ready to help you select the right features for your needs.
Take a look at some of our other great systems:

386/33 VGA $3,595

Intel 386-33 CPU □ 32K Cache □ 4 Meg RAM □ 1.2 MB 5.25"drive □ 1.44
MB 3.5" drive O 150 MB 18ms ESDI hard drive □ ESDI controller W/32K
cache □ 16-bit VGA card □ 14' VGA monitor (1024 x 768) D 2 serial, 1
parallel & 1 game ports □ 101-key Keyboard □ Genius Mouse □ MS-
DOS 3.3 or 4.01

(25 Mhz Cache System deduct S400)

$2,795

386/25 VGA

Intel 386-25 CPU o 4 Meg RAM o 1.2 MB 5.25"drive □ 1.44 MB 3.5" drive
□ 105 MB 18ms IDE hard drive □ 16-bit VGA card a 14" VGA monitor
(1024 X 768) □ 2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game ports O 101-key Keyboard □
Genius Mouse □ MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01

$1,895

386/SX VGA

Intel 386SX-16 CPU □ 2 Meg RAM 0 1.2 MB 5.25"drive □ 1.44 MB 3.5"
drive □ 66 MB 25ms hard driven 16-bit VGA card □ 14" VGA monitor
(640 X 480) □ 2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game ports □ 101-key Keyboard O
Genius Mouse □ MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01
(20 Mhz 386/SX version add S150)

$1,795

286/12/66 MB VGA COMBO

1 Meg RAM □ 1.2 MB 5.25" drive □ 1.44 MB 35" drive □ 66 MB hard drive
~ 16-bit VGA card □ 14" VGA monitor (640 x 480) □ 2 serial, 1 parallel
& 1 game ports Z 101-key Keyboard □ Genius Mouse ~ MS DOS 33 or 4.01
c Panasonic 1180 printer w/cable □ Surge Protector

$1,295 NEW

286/12 VGA STAR

□ 1 Meg RAM □ 1.2 M or 1.44 M drive □ 40 MB hard drive □ 16-bit VGA
card 14" VGA monitor (640 x 480, .41 mm) □ 2 serial/1 parallel & 1 game
ports □ 101-key Keyboard z MS-DOS 3.3

Various hard drive capacity available.

Altec's Guarantee:

• 30 day money-back guarantee

• 1 year warranty for parts and labor

• Free 4 months on-site service

• Lifetime toll-free technical support

! lifiiflflllfll

ALTEC

Technology Corp.

1-800-255-9971

Policy: Same day shipping with standard configurations for orders before 3 PM EST.

Shipping and handling extra. Personal and company checks require 10 days to clear. Prices
are subject to change, and all items are subject to availability. All returns must be shipped
prepaid, insured, in original condition and complete with documentation. All returns must
have RMA number. 30-day money back guarantee does not include shipping. No surcharge
for Visa & MasterCard, 2% for American Express.

AHec Tfchnology Corporation • 18555 East Gale Avenue • Industry. CA 91748 • 818/912-8688 • FAX: 818/912-8048

Circle 19 on Reader Service Card

HARDWARE

Corey Sandler

REVIEW

New Controller Makes SCSI
Palatable to PCs

ForATs with
large chassis, the
SmartConnex/ISA
can take the
hassle out of SCSI
upgrades.

SmartConnex/ISA

Company

Distributed Processing Technology
132 CandaceDr.
Maitland, FL 32751
(407) 830-5522

Hardware Needed

IBM AT or compatible

Software ^4eeded

MS-DOS, OS/2, NetWare 286 or 386,
SCO Xenix or Unix, or Sytos Plus

Price

As tested (with floppy disk drive
controller): $365

Without floppy disk drive controller:
$330

Inquiry 1105.

If you're accustomed to conventional
PC interfaces, SCSI is a strange breed.
Neither the original PC architecture
nor the current version of DOS was de-
signed for SCSI devices. So, before your
PC can capitalize on SCSI's speed and
flexibility, you may find yourself mixing
and matching specialized software driv-
ers, hard disk drive controllers, hard disk
drives, and motherboard ROMs.

Distributed Processing Technology's
SmartConnex/ISA SCSI controller can
bridge this gap between IBM ATs and
SCSI (DPT also announced a SmartCon-
nex for Extended Industry Standard Ar-
chitecture that wasn't shipping commer-
cially in time for this review). The 16-bit
SmartConnex/ISA uses the Western Dig-
ital WD 1003 disk drive controller inter-
face, which makes your computer see the
controller as a common ST506 AT-com-
patible device without your having to in-
stall special driver software. The Smart-
Connex also works with your other drive
interfaces. An associate and I installed it
and an external hard disk drive in a
386SX with an internal hard disk drive
that used a motherboard-based Intelli-
gent Drive Electronics interface, and
both drives worked fine.

The SmartConnex also includes inter-
nal and external interface connectors, so
you can attach SCSI hard disk drives
either through a rear panel or from inside
the computer. And because the board
uses a 10-MHz 68000 CPU, it can out-
perform some SCSI controllers in read-

and write-throughput speed.

However, problems with the board's
design and documentation mean that
SCSI installation still isn't headache-
free. Nevertheless, if you're a PC user
who's interested in adding a SCSI-based
high-capacity hard disk drive, the Smart-
Connex is worth considering.

Why SCSI?

SCSI's advantages center on speed and
flexibility (see "The SCSI Bus," Parts 1
and 2, February and March BYTE).
SCSI's speed is due to the fact that it is a
parallel interface, not a serial interface
like the ST506. SCSI is flexible because
it was designed to be more than just a
hard disk drive interface. More and more
devices— including tape drives— are
showing up with SCSI compatibility.
And while the serial ST506 limits you to
two physical disk drives, SCSI supports
up to eight devices— seven peripherals
and a controller board.

The major problem for PC users is that
MS-DOS doesn't include a generic inter-
face that supports all the devices avail-
able with a SCSI connection. That means
that when you install a SCSI connection,
you usually must also install a software
driver that is compatible with both the
device you are controlling and the appli-
cations you want run. This is still true
with the SmartConnex for everything ex-
cept a hard disk drive, although DPT says
that it is developing device drivers for
tape and optical disk drives (release dates

were not available at press time).

If you want more than two disk drives,
you have to install a compatible software
driver in your MS-DOS CONFIG.SYS
file. The catch is that not only must you
depend on DPT to supply a driver that
supports your particular hardware, but
you also have to hope the driver works
with the application that you'll be using
with the hardware. If DPT (or any SCSI
controller manufacturer) doesn't have
drivers for your hardware and software
combination, you'll have to install an-
other controller or find another device.

But this problem may diminish as vari-
ous groups and manufacturers push for
SCSI standards. An ANSI CAM (Com-
mon Access Method) committee is work-
ing to establish a software interface for
SCSI that would be installed in a variety
of operating systems. If such an interface
is successful, hardware vendors would
only have to write their interfaces to the
common software standard instead of to
every operating system and application.

Tight Squeeze

In addition to having a SCSI connection,
the SmartConnex can include an optional
floppy disk drive interface that is com-
patible with 5V*- and 3 '/i -inch devices.
The SmartConnex's ST506 compatibil-
ity is built in, which means that you can
plug the board into the PC bus, hook up
the floppy and hard disk drive cables
from your standard drives, and go. Actu-
ally, a software driver stored on the disk

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 205

REVIEW

New Controller makes SCSI Palatable to PCs

SMARTCONNEX SCSI BENCHMARK RESULTS

< Better

File I/O

Worse ►

Sequential

Read

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 350 400

Seconds

450

< Worse !

Sequential

Read

File I/O throughput

500 550

Better ►

0 20 40 60 500 550 600 650 700 750 800 850
K bytes per second

H SmartConnex/ISA S Western Digital FASST

Although the SmartConnex/ISA can simplify upgrading to SCSI, its performance
was only marginally better than that of the Western Digital controller that shipped
with the test 300-MB SCSI hard disk drive.

and transparent to the user handles ST-
506 emulation. A DPT utility controls
driver installation and use.

But installing the board can present
problems. First of all, it's AV2 inches
high, not including the bus connect pins.
That was too tall to fit into our Compu-
Add 3 16s slim-line test machine. The in-
ternal connectors and the top of the board
stuck out beyond the edge of the chassis
(we installed the board in this box, and it
worked fine with the cover off).

The board also was too tall when we

used the internal interface connectors in
our private-label 20-MHz 386 clone with
a full-size AT case. If no cables are at-
tached to the internal connectors, the
case fits— but just barely. However, with
this particular clone, we could not attach
the external connector because of the
width of the slots in the rear of the case.
SCSI uses a large 50-pin, D-shell con-
nector, which requires the maximum slot
width. For comfortable use, you'll need
an oversize AT-type case for this board.
Yet another problem occurred when

we tried to use the board in an Austin 12-
MHz 286 and a CompuAdd 216— small-
footprint PCs with internal bus risers
that accept boards sideways. In these
machines, the cables that connected the
SmartCoimex to the floppy disk drive
were too short. We had to disable the
floppy disk drive interface on the board
and use the connectors on the mother-
board.

We also found that the SmartConnex's
documention and supporting utility soft-
ware seemed unfinished. In fact, we had
considerable difficulty getting the board
up and running, because the instructions
for using the utilities were not clear.

To install a hard disk drive with the
SmartConnex, you run a simple utility
that calls a low-level format routine and
then stores the proper ST506 emulation
driver on the last block of the hard disk
drive. Drivers are available for a variety
of operating systems, including OS/2,
MS-DOS, Xenix/Unix, and Novell Net-
Ware. Once you complete these steps,
you simply type FDISK (or the equiva-
lent, depending on your operating sys-
tem), perform a high-level format, copy
the system over, and load your files.

However, when we repeated this pro-
cess during testing with a Core Interna-
tional Model 310 SCSI hard disk drive,
we received numerous drive not ready
and no boot device messages. Nothing
in the documentation explains these
errors. As it turns out, the emulation
software that is stored in the final drive
block cannot be erased, and the utility
software is not smart enough to know
what to do when it discovers that the
driver software already exists. This was
the source of our numerous error mes-
sages, according to DPT technical-sup-
port personnel. (DPT sent us a utility
that will erase the driver software. The
company doesn't ship the utility in the
basic package on the theory that once you
conduct a low-level format and install the
driver, you don't need to remove it unless
you change controllers.)

The documentation lacked a "quick
start" section, forcing you to uncover in-
stallation instructions obscurely embed-
ded in page after page of technical dis-
cussion. When we put aside the manual
and anonymously called the company,
technical support proved to be quite
good. On one call, we received 20 min-
utes of support time without complaint.

Aside from poor on-screen instruction
and incomplete documention, we liked
the SmartConnex. Although DPT rates
the SmartConnex's transfers at only 4
megabytes per second, we found that it
operated relatively quickly. It rapidly

206 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Smaller Computers.
Bigger Applications.

Storage To Match.

The dimensions of computing are ctiang-
ing. Today's lower profile, higher-end 286 and
386 computers are taking up less desktop
space and taking on much bigger applications.
Matching these new computing dimensions
with new dimensions in storage has never
been more important. And once again, it is a
company called Storage Dimensions that is
doing that matching.

We call it performance matching, actually
And our new 100, 200 and 320 megabyte
internal SpeedStor' subsystems are three
solid examples of how we put you well in front
of today's 286/386 power curve. Because
you get smartly engineered half-high storage

matched not only to the new smaller computer
enclosures, but to their larger performance
demands. With our proprietary SCSI-based
architecture, host bus adaptor and on -board
look-ahead caching for added speed. Plus
an optional floppy port for cost effective
installation and expansion.

Whether you measure your storage needs
in square inches, megabytes or milliseconds,
you'll find the dimensions you require are
the ones we deliver. The ones that have put
our products on more desktops than any other
storage solution. Gall us at (408) 879-0300.
Storage Dimensions, 2145 Hamilton Avenue,
San Jose, GA 95125.

See us at Rotunda Booth #4214.

STORAGE DIMENSIONS

/Fall '90

November 12-16, 1990
Las Vegas, Nevada

SpeedStor is a regislensd trademarlc of Storage Dimensions © 1990 Storage Dimensions

Call me, I'm interested, circle 324 on Reader Service Card.

B-SS2

Please send literature, circle 325 on Reader Service Card.

AccSys for

■ Set of C libraries for easy access
to Paradox data and index files.

■ No need to concern yourself with
internal files fornnat.

■ Increased performance shortens
processing time.

■ Total control over table files primary
and secondary index files.

■ Network and single-user versions available.

Copio InternQtionol Ltd.

1964 Richton Drive. Wheaton, Illinois 60187
708/682-8898 FAX: 708/665-9841

Instant info via FaxFacts: 617/740-0025 Press: 1625007

REVIEW

you get past the
installation difficulties,

the SmartConnex
performs as promised.

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completed long menus and data-file
searches. BYTE Lab benchmarks of the
board with the Core hard disk drive
showed random-read throughput of about
45K bytes per second; random-write
throughput came in at around 54K bytes
per second (see the figure). For compar-
ison, we ran the same tests using the
Western Digital FASST SCSI controller
that ships with the drive. We found the
Western Digital controller considerably
slower on reads and nearly identical on
writes: Random-read throughput was ap-
proximately 3 IK bytes per second; ran-
dom-write throughput was more than
53K bytes per second.

Guarded Recommendation

Once you get past the installation diffi-
culties, the SmartConnex performs as
promised: It's somewhat faster than the
interface that comes with the drive we
tested, and the board's ST506 drive emu-
lation makes for what should be an easy
installation. We also liked the internal
and external connections and the option-
al built-in floppy disk drive controller
that lets you replace your existing con-
troller, if that's what you need.

However, we are concerned that the
board did not fit easily into four of our
test machines, and the lack of easy-to-
understand documentation and on-screen
prompts made the installation much
more difficult than it should be.

If you want to enhance your PC with
SCSI, the SmartConnex can simplify the
installation. Just make sure your com-
puter's case is large enough to hold the
board and that you have DPT's technical-
support number in your telephone's auto-
dialer. ■

Corey Sandler is president of Word Asso-
ciation, a consortium of high-technology
writers and consultants headquartered in
Nantucket, Massachusetts. He can be
reached on BIX do "editors. " He worked
with Word Association technical editor
Tom Badgett in testing the DPT board.

208 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 377 on Reader Service Card

OnlyNortfiMeMaks

Sense Of It AU!

f "\on't be puzzled about com-
# Iputing for the 90's... call the
X-X company who speaks your lan-
guage: Noahgate. We're your
problem-solving partners. We listen to
your needs, analyze options, then
recommend solutions.

We use a 'modular systems' approach
that allows us to custom configure
your system to meet your current and
future needs.

Now, let's shatter a few myths...

Northgate is a true manufacturer
of computing systems ... not an

assembler. Our R&D Department
works day in and day out, developing
new technologies to keep Northgate
on the cutting edge of high
performance computing.

We design and manufacture our
ovm motherboards in the U.S.A. If
you hear othenvise, hang up ... you
deserve the truth!

A word about price. Northgate is
the performance/price leader in
systems for home and office. No,
Northgate computers aren't the
cheapest. Why.? Because we don't
take shortcuts in technology to get
performance gains and hold prices
down. Some companies cut corners

to get speed improvements. Shadow
RAM is one such technique.

Shadow RAM sets aside room in
RAM for temporary storage of system
and video I/O instructions normally
stored in system ROM. By running
these routines in RAM, instructions
can be executed at the micro-
processor's fastest speed.

However, this R^-^M is best used for
extended memory needs like disk
caching, RAM disk, and spoolers.
When Shadow RAM eats up this
space, you can experience software
compatibility and operating problems.
YouH never experience shortcut-
related problems with a Northgate
system. Call toll-free 800-548-1993.

210 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

NorthgateBringsItAllTogetherAnd
Puts R)wer For Tne 90's In Your Hands!

7\ Torthgate exemplifies power!

/ ^ IBM! Compaq! DeU! All the
X others! The unquestioned industry
leader is Northgate! Why? Only Northgate
solves the puzzle! Nowhere else can you get
the blistering combination of triple caching
power ... industry's fastest components and
peripherals ... performance boosting soft-
ware ... power services and technical
support ... all for incredible factory-
direct prices!

Tri-Caching technology

breaks performance barriers!

Caching guarantees power computing
into the 90's! Northgate uses three Vfpcs of
caching technology to extend total system
performance. Each svstem has a minimum
of 64K SRAM memory cache, 32K-64K
cache hard disk controllers and caching
software-all for enhanced performance
and speed.

instead of the disk. Resuk.' Accelerated I/O
transactions!

Caching Software! Nonhgate uses disk
caching software for enhanced performance.
Here's how k works. During a session the
software "learns" to anticipate what data
youll need next and brings it into the cache
for quick retrieval.

Industry's most powerful
components and peripherals!

System speed is not based on the CPU
alone. Hard drives, floppy drives, video
cards and other peripherals all play a part in
enhancing overall performance. One slow
element slows the whole system down.
Northgate solves this problem by using the
latest in AT interface technology to
maximize system performance.

Hard disks made just for Northgate

customers-fastest in the
world! For Northgate (and
you!) only the fastest hard
drives will do. Our
complete selection of hard
drives— featuring our
exclusive Maxtor
200Mb-use AT
technologv' wkh disk
caching controllers for fast,
efficient throughput.

THE ANATOMY Of
TR! CACHING

SRAM Memory Cache! Nonhgate uses
high-speed 64K-256K static SRAM cache to
buffer frequently requested data from slow'er
memory storage areas. RAM cache reduces
the main processor's idle time (wait stage)
while data is transferred to and from main
memory. Our external 486 SRAM cache
operates in true burst mode for
33Mb/second execution of instructions.
Boosts the hit rate for data finding to 99%!

Hard Disk Caching Controllers! Disk
caching improves performance by relieving
the bottle neck caused by hard drives.
When reading and writing to hard disk, the
information passes through a RAM cache
buffer. This buffer retains data after k has
been sent to its destination. If the same data
is needed again, k is drawn from the cache

Fastest video
combinations on the
market— screens appear almost before
you release "Enter"! Nonhgate's 16-bit
Super VGA lets you zip through desktop
publishing, windowing and other bit-mapped
graphics operations. Select from our broad
range of hi^ performance monkors and
video cards to meet the most demanding
design and engineering applications!

Now ... performance
software unleashes the
power of your Northgate!

To make the most of our awesome power,
we're including FREE performance software
with our Elegance™ 386™ and 486™ Power
User's systems. This S1139.00 suggested
retail value includes Microsoft® Windows™
3.0, Samna® Ami™ Professional word

processing and Informix® Wingz™ graphics
spreadsheet.

Microsoft® Windows™ 3.0!

You've heard about

the point-and-click
ease of Apple
computing. Now
Windows brings k
to the DOS worid!
Windows speeds through e\ en the most
demandmg32-bk software ... makes
program operation and multi-tasking
a breeze!

AmiPro™— word processing
and desktop publishing
in one!

^ You get
sophisticated
word processing
features including
130,000 word

spell check, dictionar\', thesaurus, search
and replace, editable page views, mukiple
fonts, integrated graphics and more! And
you get the look and feel of expensive
desktop publishing packages!

Wingz™— powerftil graphics
spreadsheet and database
program!

Wingz for
Windows 3.0

is the first
spreadsheet
program that lets
you take frill
advantage of today's powerful
windows/graphics based environments. You
get unsurpassed number-crunching power
and page perfect presentations.

CALL TOLL-FREE 24 HOITIS EVERY DAY

800-548-1993

Notice to the Hearing Impaired; Northgate has
TDD capabilitN-. Dial 800-535-0602.

NO/rmGATE »,

cam/rm

SYSTEMS

7075 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344

Circle 259 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 211

New Northgate Elegance 486i™ System...

"Editors' Choice'' said PCMa^azmf

(Adding: "Northgate stops at nothing to please its
customers...97"^" would buy againf")

InfoWorldhbs scored
it 9.1-top rating everr

Incredible power and unmatched
performance at a price you'd
expect to pay for a 386™ !

00

5895

Delivered to Your Home or Office

XT Thether 80286, 386 or
|/|/ 486 technology, Northgate
f f consistently brings you top rated
systems. Our value and performance is
unexcelled when you look at the experts'
opinions. Northgate is a company in
which you can place your trust — perhaps
our most important advantage!

In January, 1988, Northgate won its
first Editors' Choice for the 286/12
SuperMicro. Northgate leadership
prevailed again when PC Magazine
benched 386 systems. One couldn't do
better. Three Editors' Choice — one for
each speed in our Elegance line of 20, 25
and 33MHz systems. Northgate is the
only company who can make this claim!

PC Magazine then called for 486
ISA systems for review. Result:
there was no question about it. 'Only
one machine stands out," they said,
"you could pay less for a 486 system,
but not get the bonuses that are offered
with the Elegance."

Along the way, we added another Editors'
Choice of our OmniKef keyboard.
There you have it ...

A record five Editors' Choice
Awards in one year's time!

About the same time, the tough
testers at Inpmorld were thoroughly and
methodically examining Elegance 486i.
They reported you could buy the next
highest ranked system (scoring 8.2 vs.
our 9 . 1) but you'd also pay three
times as muchit

InfoWorld's editors concluded that
Nonhgate's 486i 'leads the pack by a
comfortable margin. It offers impressive
performance, exceptional expandability
and it is tops in support and value.''^

A subsequent issue of InfoWorld
Guly30, 1990) showed Elegance
486i leading the pack again as a
nenvork file server and
stand-alone system as well.

And, as if we had planned it,

PC Magazine came along with its
Service and Reliability issue in
which Nonhgate's dedication to

customer support was well evidenced.
'As we learned more about its sen'ice
policies, it became clear that Northgate
stops at nothing to please its customers."
No wonder "Northgate was the
hands-down winner when it came to
customer loyaln.^""

That's the story. Designed and built to
perform. Proven by the industry's most
demanding testing. Fairly priced. And
backed by people with a passion to serve
you with a support policy that inspired
one magazine columnist
to say:

"What WordPerfect is to
sofnvare support, Northgate is
to hardware and there are even a
few things that WordPerfect
could learn from the folks in
Minneapolis. Northgate is fast
becoming the Nordstrom of the
computer worid."tt

212 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Complete with the Spectecular 200MB Maxtor
"Power Max" Super-fast hard drive! (Maximized
performance exclusively for North^te and you!)

rhe secret to Northgate's
state-of-the-art power! The
486 processor combines the
capabilities of an enhanced 386, an
advanced internal cache controller and
8K of supporting static cache memory.
The chip also incorporates an enhanced
387 FPU (Floating Point Unit). You get
increased performance for the most
demanding math-based applications.

Northgate caching enhancements
give you greater speed! We've added
a 64K read write-back SRAM cache
(expandable to a Northgate exclusive

256K) to further accelerate the execution
of instructions. I/O transactions are
faster than ever thanks to a 32K hard
drive cache controller. Finally, we armed
Elegance 486/25 with Smartdrive DOS
disk caching software. Result.'' Processing
speed you must see to believe!

Elegance 486i ISA is the perfect

high performance graphics/sofnvare
workstation or network server. Its multi-
stage caching is an excellent match for
tough number-crunching operations.

Look at everything you get! Elegance
486i comes with 4Mb of RAM, a

Elegance 486i ISA System Features

25MHz Intel® 80486 processor
4Mb of 32-bit RAM (expandable to
8Mb on motherboard; total system
RAM of 16Mb with optional 32-bit
memory card)

Proprietary, U.S.-made motherboard

200Mb Maxtor hard drive with 15ms
access; 16-bit controller with 1:1
interleave; 32K disk read-look-ahead
cache buffer

64K SRAM memory cache;
read/write-back caching
High density 1.2Mb 5.25" and 1.44Mb
3.5" floppy drives; also read/write low
density disks

Eight expansion slots; one 32-bit slot;
six 16-bit and one 8-bit slot
Weitek math coprocessor support
One parallel and two serial ports
High-resolution monochrome monitor
Clock/calendar chip rated at 5 years

♦ 200 watt power supply (220 watt
power supply in tower case)

♦ Desktop case with room for 3 exposed
and 2 internal half-height devices

♦ Front mounted reset and high/low
speed controls

♦ Exclusive Northgate OmniKeyl
ULTRA keyboard

♦ MS-DOS 4.01 and GW-BASIC
software installed

♦ On-line Users Guide to the svstem
and MS-DOS 4.01

♦ QA Plus Diagnostic and Utility
software

♦ Microsoft Windows 3.0 and mouse

♦ 1 year warranty on system parts and
labor; 5 years on keyboard

♦ Unlimited 24-hour toll-free technical
support

♦ Free on-site service for one year

♦ FCC Class B Certified

Select the options you need ...

let Northgate custom build them into your system today!

♦ Hard drives up to 1.2 Gigabytes ♦ Laser quality and dot matrix

♦ Tape back up devices printers

♦ Floppy, CD ROM and optical drives ♦ SVGA color monitors and cards

♦ Modems * Weitek coprocessors

200Mb Maxtor hard disk with 15ms
access, 1.2Mb 5.25" and 1.44Mb 3.5"
floppies, desktop case, 14" monochrome
monitor, exclusive OmniKey keyboard
and Microsoft® Windo\^^™ 3.0.

Or select our Power System with
seven bay tower case, 14" SVGA color
monitor with 1024 x 768 resolution, 16-bit
SVGA adapter with 512K video memory,
and 220 watt power supply. PLUS!
Microsoft Windows 3.0, Samna* Ami™
Professional word processing software
and Wingz™ graphics spreadsheet
and database software. A S1139.00
value software is vours at NO
EXTRA CHARGE!

Support power! Your Elegance 486i
ISA is backed by expert toll-free
technical support 24 hours a day, seven
days a week. PLUS, free on-site next
day sen'ice to most locations if we can't
solve your problems over the phone
AND a 1 year parts and labor warranty
(5 years on OmniKey keyboard).

Use Elegance 486i ISA RISK
FREE for 30 days! If it fails to meet
your expectations, return it for a full
refund ... no questions asked!

ORDER TODAY! Call toll-free
24 hours everv' day.

Complete Elegance 486i System

$1

ONLY =5895"

Power User's System Just ^6495""

Delivei^ to your home or office

EASY FINANCING: Easy payment options. Use
your Northgate Big "N", \"ISA. MasterCard ... or lease
it. Up to five-year terms available.

CALLTOLL-FREE24HOURS EVERYDAY

»54^1993

Fax your order. (612) 943-8338

Notice to the Hearing Impaired: Northgate has

TDD capabilit\-. Dial 800-535-0602.

7075 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344

<£Cop\Tigiit Northgate Computer S>-stems, Inc. 1990. All rights rcsened. Northgate, Obiji/A>k and the Nonhgatc'N" logo are registered [fademarks of Northgate Computet Systems. 80j86and80486atc[fadcmatksof Intel.. \ll other products and brand names
are trademarks and registered trademarks of theii respect ii-c companies. Prices ind specifications subject to change without notice. Northgate reserv es the right to substitute components of equal or greater quality or performance. All items subject (o availability.
We support the ethical use of software, lb report software copyright violations, tall the Software Publishers Associations Anii-Pirac^- Hotline at 1-8 00-3 88-PIR8.
'PCMagasiiu. September 11. 1990 ' ' PC Magaiiiu. September 25. 1990
Vnfalibrki, July 30. 1990 V^Con^uKr Carrrna. .August. 1990

Circle 260 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 213

Northgate Elegance 386733 System...

"...combines top performance, good
components and aggressive pricing...
excellent performer all around."

PCMagazine
October 31, 1989

/I ward winning 386
/ 1 performance! Sizzling
IX. Northgate Elegance 386/33
and 386/25 systems both won
PC Magazine Editor's Choice awards,
been rated #1 and #2 products
(respectively) in InfoWorld AND
received Computer Shopper^^esx. Buy"
recognitions. No other company can
make that claim! Here's how we did it!

Elegance 386's high performance
motherboard is designed and
manufactured by Northgate. With a
16Mb 32-bit DRAM capacity, it's
consistently rated in the top 1% of
performance — at 25 and 33MHz,
Elegance 386 is the fastest in its class!

Tri-caching started here! Elegance
was Northgate's first triple caching

machine. It comes with 64K read
write-back SRAM cache to accelerate
the execution of instructions. And, as
your needs increase you can expand
Elegance's SRAM to a Northgate
exclusive 256K! A 32K hard drive
cache controller accelerates I/O
transactions while Smartdrive DOS
disk caching software increases overall
system throughput.

214 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Zip through demanding
programs. Multi-stage
caching easily handles even a
heavy overhead of video programs,
I/O intensive tasks, network servers,
large data bases and advanced
desktop publishing programs.

Desktop or tower. . .your choice!

Elegance 386 comes standard in
our elegant five bay desktop
case. Our popular seven bay
tower case is also available.
Either way, you get plenty of
room for all kinds of I/O
boards, and internal/external
peripherals.

Start with our base
system! Northgate's base
system includes 1Mb of
RAM, a 40Mb fast access
hard drive, 1.2Mb 5.25" and 1.44Mb
3.5"floppy drives, a 14"high resolution
monochrome monitor and our
exclusive OmtiiKey^ I PLUS keyboard.

Tell us what you need . . .we'll
build your system! Performance
options include: hard drive options
up to 1.2 gigabytes with 15 ms
access; VGA and SVGA color cards
and monitors; Intel and Weitek math
coprocessors; CD ROM and optical
drives; tape backups; printers and a
host of others!

Or select our Power
System with 4Mb of RAM, a
200Mb Maxtor hard drive with
15ms access, 1.2Mb 5.25"
and 1.44Mb 3.5"floppies, a
14" Super VGA color monitor
and an OmniKey keyboard.
Comes complete with
Microsoft® Windows™
3.0, Samna®Ami™ Professional
word processing software,
Wingz™ graphics spreadsheet
and database software and a mouse.
This $1139.00 suggested retail
value software is vours at NO
EXTRA CHARGE!

I Elegance 386 Base System Features:

• 25 or 33MHz InteP 80386DX
processor

• 1Mb of 32-bit RAM (expandable to
8Mb on motherboard; total s\'stem
RAM of 16Mb with optional 32-bit
memory card)

• Proprietary, U.S.-made motherboard

• 40Mb fast access hard drive; 16-bit
controller with 1:1 interleave; 3 2K
disk read-look-ahead cache bulfer

• 64K SRAM memory cache; read/
wTite-back caching

• High density 1.2Mb 5.25"and
1.44Mb 3.5"floppy drives; also
read/write low density disks

• Eight expansion slots; one 32-bit slot;
six 16-bit and one 8-bit slot

• Weitek math coprocessor support

• One parallel and two serial ports

• Hercules compatible video adapter

• Clock/ calendar chip rated at 5 years

• 200 watt power supply (220 watt
power supply in tower case)

• Optional seven bay upright Tower
case; room for three exposed and four
internal half-height dwices or desktop
case with room for three exposed and
2 internal half-height devices

• Front mounted reset and high /low
speed controls

• Exclusive Northgate
OmniKey IWHLK keyboard

• 14" high resolution monochrome
monitor

• MS-DOS 4.01 and GW-BASIC

software installed

• On-line User's Guide to the system
and MS-DOS 4.01

• QA Plus Diagnostic and Utility
software

• 1 year warranty on system parts and
labor; 5 years on l?eyboard

• FCC Class B Certified

Industry's finest 24-hour toll-
free technical support! Your
Elegance 386 is backed by expert
technical support any time you need
it. Call toll-free, 7 days a week,
24 hours a day. PLUS, free on-site
next day service to most locations if
we can't solve your problems over
the phone.

Elegance 386 is backed by a one year
warranty on parts and labor; five
years on the OmniKey keyboard. If a
part fails, well ship a replacement to
you overnight at our expense —
before you return your part!

Use Elegance 386 25 or 33MHz
RISK FREE for 30 days! If it fails
to meet your expectations, return it.
No questions asked.

ORDER TODAY! Call toll-free
24 hours every day.

25MHz Base System Model

$299900

Power User'sSystemS4699'«'

33MHz Base System Model

$349900

Power User's System S5199'"'
Delivered to your home or office

EASYFINANCESIG: Easy
payment options. Use your Northgate
Big 'NT, VISA, MasterCard . . .or lease
it. Up to five-year terms available.

CALL TOLL-FREE 24 HOURS E\ W DAY

800-548-1993

Fax your order. (612) 943-8338

Notice to the Hearing Impaired: Northgate has

TDD capability. Dial 800-535-0602.

NORTHGATE
COMPUTER
SYSTEMS

7075 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344

©Copj-right Northgate Computer S%-stems, Inc. 1990. rights reserved. Northgate, OimiKey zwA the Northgate "N'" logo arc cc^stercd trademarksof Northgate Computer Systems. 80386 and 80486 are trademarks of Intel.

.Ml other products and brand names arc trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective companies. Prices and specifications subject to change without notice. Northgate rcscr\-cs the ci^t to substitute components of equal or greater quality o
performance. items subject to a\-ailabilit>'. We support the ethical use of software. To report software copyright violations, call the Software Publishers .Association's .\nti-Piracy Hotline at 1-800-388-PIR8.

Circle 261 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 215

T~^irst time ever! Now you

ri can have Northgate Elegance'
X power, speed and performance
in our popular space-saving
SlimLine case! Elegance 386
computers shocked the industry
with a #1 and #2 sweep oi InfoworlcTs
1989 best product awards; AND
three Editors' Choice awards from
PCMagazine.

Cache! Cache! Cache! Like our
powerful Elegance systems,
SlimLine 386 features 64K SRAM
cache to zip through the execution
of instructions. For even faster
speed, we've added a hard drive

cache to make quick work of I/O
transactions. To top it off, SlimLine
386 comes with Smartdrive
DOS disk caching software that
anticipates the information you'll
need next and brings it into the
cache for fast access.

Better features across the
board! SlimLines motherboard
is highly integrated, allowing
maximum system features in the
smallest possible space. It includes
space for up to 8Mb of 32-bit
RAM, one parallel and two serial
ports, fully integrated floppy disk
controller and IDE hard drive

controller. Plus an integrated
SVGA with 512K Video RAM to
speed up bus throughput —
makes the system faster and
more reliable! And there is still
room for expansion with five
open slots.

Three speeds! SlimLine 386
comes with your choice of 386DX
25 or 33MHz processors. For
faster math-based applications —
budgets, forecasts, spreadsheets
and databases — all models feature
80387 coprocessor support to
allow you to easily add floating
point unit (FPU) performance.

216 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

33 Cache Systems!

M 11 purpose systems!
/ 1 SlimLine Cache is the
J. A perfect net\vork workstation
or stand-alone unit for business
and home use. It provides excellent
support for advanced desktop
publishing and graphics.

Base system includes 1Mb of

RAM (expandable to 8Mb on the
motherboard), a 40Mb fast access
hard drive, 1.2Mb 5.25" and
1.44 3.5" floppy drives, a 12" VGA
monochrome monitor and our
exclusive OmniKey® I PLUS
keyboard.

You name it, we'll build it!

Performance options include hard
drives up to our super-fast 15ms
200Mb Maxtor hard drive, monitors
and video display cards, math
coprocessors, tape backups, printers
and a host of other choices.

Or select our Power System

with 4Mb of RAM, a 200Mb fast
access hard drive, 1.2Mb 5.25"
and 1.44Mb 3.5" floppies, a 14"
Super VGA color monitor and
an OmniKey keyboard. Comes
complete with Microsoft® Windows™
3.0, Samna® Ami™ Professional
word processing software, Informix®
Wingz™ graphics spreadsheet and
database software and a mouse to
maximize system performance.
This $1139.00 suggested retail
value software is yours at NO
EXTRA CHARGE!

Industry's finest 24-hour toll-
free technical support! Your
SlimLine 386 Cache is backed by
expert technical support any time
you need it. Call toll-free, 7 days

a week, 24 hours a day. PLUS,
free on-site next day service
to most locations if we cant solve
your problems over the phone.

Slimline 386 Base
System Features:

• 25or33MHzInteP80386DX
processor

• lMbof32-bitDRAM(expandableto
8Mb on motherboard)

• Down-scaled, proprietary', U.S.-made
motherboard

• 40Mb fast access hard drive; AT bus
interface; 1:1 interleave; 32K or 64K
look ahead disk caching

• 64KSRAM memory cache; read/
write-back caching

• Hi_gh density 1.2Mb 5.25"and 1.44Mb
3 . 5"floppy drives; also read/write low
density disks

• Five open expansion slots; three full
length 16-bit and 2 half length 8-bit

• 25or33MHz80387orWeitek
coprocessor support

• One parallel and two serial ports

• Built-in 16-bit SVGA with up to 1024 x
768 resolution; 512K video memory

• Clock/ calendar chip rated at 5 years

• 100 watt power supply

• Small footprint SlimLine case with
room for two exposed and 1 internal
half-height devices

• Front mounted reset and high / low-
speed controls

• Exclusive Northgate OmniKey I PLUS
keyboard

• 12" VGA monochrome monitor

• MS-DOS 4.01 andGW-BASIC
software installed

• On-line User's Guide to the svstem
and MS-DOS 4.01

• QA Plus diagnostic and utility software

• Smartdrive caching software

• 1 year warranty on system parts and
labor; 5 years on keyboard

• FCC Class B Certified

More great support! Your new
SlimLine 386 Cache comes with a
one year warranty on parts and
labor; five years on the OmniKey
keyboard. If a part fails, we'll ship a
replacement to you overnight at
our expense — before you return
your part!

Use SlimLine 386 Cache RISK
FREE for 30 days! If it fails to
meet your expectations, return it.
No questions asked!

ORDER TODAY! Call toll-free
24 hours every day.

25MHz Base System Model

$299900

Power User's System S4499»«
33MHz Base System Model

$349900

Power User's System H999'«
Delivered to your home or office

EASY FINANCING: Easy payment options.
Use your Northgate Big X VIS.A. MasterCard . . .
or lease it. Up to five-year terms available.

CALLTOLL-FREE 24 HOURS EVERYDAY

800-548-1993

Fax your order. (612) 943-8338

Notice to the Hearing Impaired: Northgate has
TDD capability. Dial 800-535-0602.

NORTHGATE
COMPUTER
SYSTEMS

7075 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344

©Copyright Notthgiic Computer S>-sicms. Inc. 1990. .^1! rights reserved. Northgate. Orwr/A/i. antJ the Northgate 'V logo are registered trademarlcs of Northgate Computer S^tcms, 80386 and 80486 arc ttademarks of Intel.

.another products and brand names are trademarlcs and tegisieted ttademarks of their respective companies. Prices and specifications subject to change without notice. Northgate reserves the right to substitute components of equal or greater qualitv- o
performance. Alt items subject to availability. We support the ethical use of software. To report softu.afc copyright violations, call the Softvsare Publishers Associations .Ami-Piracy Hotline at 1-80O-388-PIR8.

Circle 262 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 217

New From Northgate...
20 MHz Rjwered Up

yes, we're a bit late to the party
with SX systems. How come?
We just couldn't bring ourselves
to market another ho-hum SX.

So we put our research and
development team on it. Boy,
did they rise to the challenge! Now
you can get an SX 16 or 20 MHz
machine with the power to run
Microsoft® Windows™ and other 32-bit
software at flashing cache-enhanced
speeds. And, they packaged all this
power and performance into our

exclusive space-saving case— a
favorite of Northgate customers!

The secret to SlimLine's
space-saving design? A fully
integrated motherboard designed and
manufactured by Northgate! This
design reduces bus load — makes
the system faster and more reliable!

Motherboard features include a
built-in VGA adapter (with 512K
Video RAM), parallel and two serial
ports, fully integrated floppy disk

controller and IDE hard drive
controller. Motherboard integration
also makes it easier to install modems
or add-in cards.

Triple cache boosts performance
to zero wait state! You get a
built-in 64K memory SRAM cache
to accelerate the execution of
instructions; hard drive caching
accelerates I/O transactions;
and disk caching soft\vare speeds
the movement of data to and from
the CPU.

218 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Slimline 386SX 16 Or
With 64K Cache!

^^limLine 386SX is perfect for
^ office environments and liome
use. It liandies word processing,
spreadsiieet, database management and
most grapiiics applications witii ease.

Slimline 386SX base system
includes 1Mb of RAM (expandable
to 8Mb) on the motherboard,
a 40Mb fast access hard drive, 1.2Mb
5.25" and 1.44Mb 3.5" floppy
drives, and a 12" VGA monochrome
monitor. Plus, you get Northgate's
award-winning OmniKey'^l 102
keyboard.

Or, we'll build your system to
your specs! There's room for three
half-height devices including floppy
drives, hard disk or tape backup.
Choose from 80, 100, or our 200Mb
hard drive with 15ms access. And,
you still have five open expansion
slots (3 full-length 16-bit, and
2 half-length 8-bit) for all of your
peripherals.

Exceptional support! SlimLine
386SX is backed by expert technical
support any time you need it. Call
toll-free, 7 days a week, 24 hours

Slimline 386SX System Features:

■ Clock/calendar chip rated at 5 years

16 or 20MHz Intel® 80386SX
processor

1Mb of 32-bit DRAM (expandable to
8Mb on motherboard)

Down-scaled, proprietary, U.S.-made
motherboard

40Mb hard drive; AT bus interface;
1:1 interleave; DisCache: 64K look
ahead disk caching; 19ms access

64K SRAM memon' cache;
read/write-back caching

High density' 1.2Mb 5.25" and 1.44Mb
3.5" floppy drives; also read/write low
density disks

Five open expansion slots; three full
length 16-bit and nvo half length 8-bit

16 or 20MHz 80387SX or Weitek
coprocessor support

One parallel and two serial ports

Built-in 16-bit SVGA widi up to 1024 x
768 resolution; 512K video memory

100 watt power supply

Small footprint SlimLine case with
room for x\\o exposed and one internal
half-height devices

Front mounted system reset and
high/low speed controls

Exclusive Northgate OmniKeyl
102 ke\'board

12" VGA monochrome monitor

MS-DOS 4.01 and GW-MSIC
software installed

On-line User's Guide to the svstem and
MS-DOS 4.01

QA Plus diagnostic and utility
software

Smartdrive disk caching software

1 year warranty on system parts and
labor; 5 years on keyboard

FCC Class B Pending

a day. PLUS, free on-site next day
service to most locations if we
can't solve your problems over the
phone. Of course, you get a one year
warranty on parts and labor; five years
on the OmniKey keyboard. If a part
fails, we'll ship a replacement to you
overnight at our expense before you
return your part.

Use a SlimLine 386SX RISK
FREE for 30 days! If it fails to meet
your expectations, return it!

Order Today! Call toll-free

24 hours every day. Ask about custom

configurations, leasing and financing

programs.

16 MHz
Base
System
Model

20 MHz
Base
System
Model

1999

2199

GO

00

Delivered to your home or office.

Call for other configurations and pricing.

EASY FIN.\NCING: Easy payment options.
Use your Northgate Big'N', VISA, MasterCard ...
or lease it. Up to five-year terms available.

CALL TOLL-FREE 24 HOURS EVERY DAY

800-548-1993

Fax your order. (612) 943-8338

Notice to the Hearing Impaired; Northgate has

TDD capability-. Dial 800-535-0602.

N0R7WATE
COMPUTER
SYSTEMS

7075 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie, MN 55344

©Copyright Northgate Computer S«teir.s, Inc. 1990. All rights reser%-e<i. Northgate, OmniKey and the Northgate "N" logo are registered trademarks of Northgate Computer S«iems. 80586 and 80486 are trademarks of Intel. All other ptoduas and brand names
are trademarks and registered trademarks of their respcai\-e companies. Prices and specifications subject to change without notice. Northgate reserves the tight to substitute componcnis of equal or greater quality or performance. All items subject to availability.
We support the ethical use of software. To report software copyright violations, call the Software Publishers .Associations .\rti-Piracy Hotline at 1-800-388-PIR8.

Circle 263 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 219

Order ¥)urNorthgate Computer Today,

Make No Payments For 90 days!

Just say "charge it"
toyourBigN
credit card!

Get your new Northgate without
spending a penny this year!

Simply fill in the Big ISP information
form and send it to Northgate. You'll
get prompt attention! Once you're
approved, call our systems consultants,
toll-free, to select the Northgate
configuration that perfectly matches
your needs!

You'll free your other credit cards!

Big 'N lets you easily increase your
credit power. Best of all, you'll make
no payments for your new computer
for 90 days after shipment! But, don't
delay, computers must be ordered
by December 31, 1990 to qualifs' for
deferred billing!

Northgate leases systems too!

Choose from flexible terms up to five
years in length. It's never been easier
to get Northgate computer systems
than it is now!

Gall Northgate Now!

800-548-1993

HOURS: Monday - Friday 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. CST

JB^ ii NORTHGATE /»
- ^i^.gf = COMPUTER -Uk^i^f^'
if SYSTEMS 1^'^'

IVlh Flying Qoud Drive, Eden Prairie. MN 55344

OPEN YOUR CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT BY FILLING OUT THE APPLICATION BELOW.

Please complete all appropriate sections, providing at least two years residence and employnient history. If you are self-employed, please be
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9. Persona] Information

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_YR.

CITY _

.BUYO RENTD OTHER □ .

_HOME PHONE (

_DATE OF BIRTH
ST.

.ZIP.

DATE OF EMPLOYMENT MO.

.YR.

MONTHLY GROSS SALARY $
PREVIOUS EMPLOYER

.BUSINESS PHONE (_

DATES OF EMPLOYMENT .

.TO.

Income from alimony, child support or separate maintenance payments need not be disclosed if you do not wish to have it considered as
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JOINT APPUCANT'S NAME .
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.CITY.

_HOME PHONE (_
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ST

.ZIP.

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JOINT APPLICANT'S EMPLOYER .
MONTHLY GROSS SALARY $ _

.YR.

, DATE OF EMPLOYMENT MO.

.YR.

.BUSINESS PHONE (_

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TYPE OF BUSINESS □ Proprietorship □ Partnership □ Corporation

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Net$

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I authorize Northgate Computer Systems or its assignees to investigate credit records and to report my performance hereunder to credit
agencies. I hereby certify that the following information is furnished to you for the purpose of obtaining credit and is true and correct of
the best of my knowledge and belief. There are costs associated with the use of this credit card. To obtain more information about these
costs, call us at 1-800-54B 1993 or write to P.O. Box 59080, Minneapolis, MN 55459-0080.

NY-A consumer credit report may be requested in connection with this application or in connection with updates, renewals or extensions
of any credit granted as a result of this application. If I subsequently ask for this information, I will be informed whether or not such a
report was requested and, if so, the name and address of the agency that furnished the report.

OH-THE OHIO LAWS AGAINST DISCRIMINATION REQUIRE THAT ALL CREDITORS MAKE CREDIT EQUALLY AVAILABLE TO ALL CREDIT-
WORTHY CUSTOMERS AND THAT CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES MAINTAIN SEPARATE CREDIT HISTORIES ON EACH INDIVIDUAL
UPON REQUEST THE OHIO CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION ADMINISTERS CDMPUANCE WITH THIS LAW.

APPUCANT'S SIGNATURE.

JOINT APPUCANT'S SIGNATURE .

.DATE.
.DATE.

FDR MARRIED WISCONSIN APPLICANTS:

I acknowledge that the obligation described herein is being incurred In the interest of my marriage or family.

BUYER'S SIGNATURE

.DATE.

* \o\i muse request deferred billing when ordering. Payments will be deferred for three billing c\-cles after shipment.

Interest will accrue during the deferred period at a rate of 1.5% per month (18% APR).

This is not an application. A completed application and agreement must be on file prior to approval for credit.

220 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 264 on Reader Service Card

A P P L I C A T

Stanford Diehl

REVIEW

Windows Takes On WingZ

If there is a medium for gauging the
graphical prowess of Windows 3.0,
WingZ is it. One look at WingZ on the
Macintosh proves just how graphical a
spreadsheet can be. But can it do the
same tricks on top of DOS? And, more
important, is all this graphical wizardry
more than an aesthetic diversion? Name-
ly, will it make your spreadsheet chores
easier or more effective?

The WingZ for Windows 3.0 comes
bundled with an OS/2 version (the com-
plete package is called WingZ PC).

WingZ PC
Company

Informix Software, Inc.
16011 College Blvd.
Lenexa, KS66219
(913) 492-9922

Hardware Needed

2 MB of RAM (3 MB recommended); 2
MB of hard disk space; VGA, EGA, or
8514/A monitor

Software Needed

Microsoft Windows 3.0

Price

$499

Inquiry 1226.

When I began working with WingZ for
Windows, I was immediately struck by
its versatility and ease of use. Presenta-
tion features approach desktop publish-
ing capabilities, and making graphs is
downright fun. WingZ fits effortlessly
into the Windows 3.0 enviroimient, in-
cluding support of Dynamic Data Ex-
change links and importing graphics
metafiles. In the constrained arena of
spreadsheets, WingZ apparently can leap
through hoops of fire.

Once I got down to work, though,
some annoying limitations sprouted up.
WingZ spreadsheets are as big as you
want them to be. You'd use up memory
before you could use up those billion or
so cells. You would think, given this po-
tential mass of data, that you could easily
change defaults and reformat an entire
sheet. Not so. I selected an entire sheet
by clicking on a box in the corner of the
sheet. Easy enough. But when I made
format changes with the whole sheet
specified, WingZ balked. The changes
would affect any data already entered in
the sheet, but newly entered data would
revert to the default format. You have to
highlight a range and change formats
manually each time (or write a macro to
do it for you).

Taking Inventory

As a model, I set up three monthly inven-
tory worksheets and a quarterly summa-

ry. The summary sheet used results from
the three monthly sheets. I've found this
type of operation easier to perform on a
true three-dimensional spreadsheet such
as Lotus 1-2-3 release 3.0. With true 3-
D, all the sheets are combined into one
structure resembling a cube. You can then
"cut through" the cube to total the three
monthly sheets. WingZ, on the other
hand, uses external references to link the
sheets. To reference a cell in an external
sheet, you specify the filename and the
cell reference (external.ref : al).

WingZ linking facilities are disap-
pointing for such a full-featured prod-
uct. First, there is no way to use the
mouse to specify links. Other linking
spreadsheets, such as Quattro Pro and
the inexpensive Lucid 3-D, let you pull
up the external sheet and click on the cell
you want to reference. WingZ forces you
to manually enter the filename (includ-
ing extension) as well as the cell refer-
ence. This can get tiring when you need
to reference a lot of external sheets.

There are a couple more troublesome
limitations when you link sheets. You
can't, for instance, link to a sheet on
disk. All referenced sheets must be open.
And WingZ does not automatically up-
date the references. To negotiate the re-
calc benchmark for the linked Savage
worksheets, I had to write a script that
called each sheet and recalculated them
one at a time.

Sometimes WingZ seemed surprising-
ly intuitive; other times, not at all. When
I typed in "Feb 90," it understood that as
a date and put the data in the default date
format. Pretty smart. But when I added
two cells together, both of them for-
matted as currency, it did not format the
result as currency. Sometimes it even
seemed to outsmart itself. When I added
a blank column into the worksheet,
WingA adjusted my external cell refer-
ences. I then had to go back and change
them so that they referred to the cells in
my external sheets— cells that, of course,
did not change location.

The Graphical Advantage

Start churning out graphs, though, and
you may just forget all about WingZ's
shortcomings. You just block off a range
of data, click on the graph icon, and
specify the area for the graph by simple
click and drag. WingZ generates a graph
on your sheet wherever you want it.
There is a full grab bag of graphs to
choose from, including scatter, contour,
3-D, and wire-frame graphs, to name a
few. Once your graph has been created,
you can resize it, move it, or revise it
from the Graph menu.

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 221

REVIEW

Windows Takes On WingZ

DOS PRODUCTS

Mathmix

Sort

Load

Recalc

Recalc linked
or 3D

Short

Long

Savage

r 120

Optimal recalc

Excel

for Windows 2.10

□ Lotus 1 -2-3
release 3.0

Quattro Pro 1 .0

WingZ

for Windows

WingZ performed admirably on our standard spreadsheet benchmarks. All times are in seconds. Shorter bars indicate faster
execution.

DOS IN EPROM

Or any other code, for that matter! PromKit allows
you to create Eproms that look like read-only disk
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or anything else you want. Use Proms for read-only,
SRAMS for read- write! Includes source code in C.
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TTRprpT ^^1' include a free copy of the pocket-
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222 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990 Circle 29 on Reader Service Card

Circle 302 on Reader Service Card

MAGAZINE

EDITORS"
CHOICE

November 28, 1989
SummaSketch II

'Introducing ^| i ® tt

lunmaSketeh D.

New Limited
Lifetime Warranty

The r)ew SummaSketch II tablets
were created with one thing in
mind— you, the people who use
tablets every day You said you
wanted a complete plug and play
package, so we're giving you
the works— both in PC ond
Mocintosh® SE and II versions. A
I2"x 12" or I8"x 12" graphics
tablet with a 4-button cursor and
2-button stylus, or I6-button
cursor for the PC.

The PC version includes inter-
face cables for the m®PC,Al
PS/2 ond compotibles. A utilities
diskette with test
and reset soft-
ware, an
Autodesk®
Device Inter-
face™ driver.
Universal Mouse
Emulator'"' ond a
Microsoft^ Windows
driver. And an offer for

a free tablet template (US and
Canada only] worth overS245,

The Mocintosh version has on
Apple® Deslctop Bus™ inter-
face device to connect the
tablet to the computer.

You'll also get the most soft-
ware compotibility with over 350
PC programs and all Macintosh
SE and II software written under
the Apple Software Developers
guidelines.

SummoSI;etch II toblets hove o
standard accuracy measurement
of ±0.015 inches, selectable res-
olution of up to 1,016 lines per
inch ond high proximity so you
can trace from documents up to
V2" thick Add in convenience fea-
tures such as a power/proximity
light, on-off switch, wedge shape
design for easy use, lightweight
construction for portability— and
it's easy to see why SummoStetch
is the industry standard and the

obvious choice of todoy's com-
puter professionols.

Best of oil, you get oil of
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SummoSlcetch II todoy For litera-
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dealer call! -800-888-2028,
Ext 304. For technical informa-
tion call 203-881 -5400.

See us at

/Fall '90

Surmagraphics.

November 12-16, 1990
Las Vegas. Nevada
Booth #4224

Every decision should be ttiis easy. '

© /990 Summagraphics Corporation.
Seymour, CT 06483 • A/I righis reserved.

For IBM/Compatible information circle 326; For Macintosh information circle 327; For
Reseller inquiries circle 328 on Reader Service Card.

Word is
getting
around.

The news is spreading fast!

Our 80,000 ecstatic customers are telling their friends about how

much time they save on flowcharts and data flow diagrams.
EasyFlow, unlike most "screen draw" programs, is dedicated to fast
composition and modification of flowcharts and data flow diagi'ams.
They're spreading the news about the automatic line routing,

automatic text centering and the slick cut & paste.
They say you can create charts and then cleanly move them into a
desktop publishing program.
EasyFlow works with most matrix printers, laser printers and
plotters and comes with a 200 page manual. They say you get all this
plus 350 context sensitive help messages on screen for only $149.95

and RUSH delivery is available.
They're telling their friends but not their bosses. Their bosses
think they had to sweat bullets to come up with these

amazing results. You mean you stiU do?!
With 80,000 customers talking, it s amazing that
you haven't heard. Give us a call and find out for yourself what
everyone else is talking about! Then call a few friends and
tell them about the wonders of EasyFlow.

Flowcharting Made Easy!

HavenTree Software Limited

P.O. Box 1093 - A Thousand Island Park, NY 13692
Order Desk: 1-800-267-0668
Info: (6131 544-6035 ext.80 Fax: (613) 544-9632
From our fax to yours... Info Fax: (613) 544-2049

REVIEW

As flexible as these graphs are, they,
too, suffer from surprising limitations.
You must first block off a contiguous
range of data and generate a chart before
you can manipulate it. If you want to add
a new series outside the selected range,
you must first copy an existing series,
select the copy, and then specify the new
series. It would be much easier if you had
the option to specify all your ranges up
front, before the graph is drawn. As long
as your data lies in contiguous columns
or rows, you are all right, but once you
start jumping around, things get
complicated.

In any case, the graphing functions
are flexible enough for you to come up
with just about any presentation that you
could possibly want. You can even select
different objects in the graph (the legend,
the title, or the actual graph itself), sepa-
rate them from the graph borders, and
put them anywhere you want. I drew a
graph, removed the legend, and placed it
to the left of the row labels. I then placed
the bars to the right of the data.

WingZ really shines when it comes to
manipulating graphical objects like this.
You can easily create "buttons" by click-
ing on an icon, and then attach scripts to
them for truly automated spreadsheets.
You could have sales data on your sheet
along with a button that, when clicked
on, would bring up another spreadsheet
with a breakdown of sales by salesper-
sons. You can draw ovals, rectangles,
and polygons and fill them with a range
of patterns or attach a drop shadow to
them. Text fields are just as easy to
create, and you can attach scroll bars to
them. WingZ also boasts tabling, ma-
trix, and database operations, as well as
an impressive scripting language. A full
set of functions is available, but if you
can think up any functions it doesn't
have, you can define them yourself using
the scripting language.

In the end, WingZ is a mixed blessing.
It can certainly put Windows through
its paces, and for presentation punch,
WingZ can't be beaten. The Windows
3.0 version is not quite as snappy as the
Mac version, but it performs admirably
when compared to other DOS (and even
OS/2) products (see the figure). It falters
somewhat when it's faced with the nitty-
gritty work of filling in formulas, link-
ing sheets, and simple formatting. If you
can put up with a little more up-front
work, WingZ can make your final pre-
sentations soar. ■

Stanford Diehl is a BYTE Lab testing
editor /engineer and spreadsheet expert.
He can be reached on BIX as "sdiehl. "

224 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990 Circle 156 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 157)

''So, this punk comes up to me and says,
'Isthereanythii^you won't dolbra buck?

And I say, 'Sure. I won't \Aug in my PC
without a Rroxima product to protect it.' "

"I may be crazy, but I'm not stupkl."

"When people tell me I take foolish
risks, I say to them: 'At least I assess the
risks, and I always take steps to protect
myself. Do you?'

"Take many microcomputer users.
They're cool and calm, just cruising along
until - wham! - they've crashed. Lost all
their data, maybe even burned out a
motherboard. Yet they sit there, stunned.

Whether you're operating a home computer or a tech-
n/cal workstation, there's a stateof-the-art Proxima
ProLine to match your needs.

They had no idea they were at risk.

"Or maybe they just thought it would
never happen to them. Yet studies
indicate that every AC outlet in America
has a 97% probabilitv of incurring at least
one svstem-damaging event each vear .

"Whether it's a Proxima® ProLine™
Surge Suppressor that clamps down on
incoming surges and spikes - or a Power
Director- that protects against power
problems and acts as a power control
center - your micro needs ultra-reliable
protection against the 101 power
problems that threaten it.

"So check out the entire range of
innovative Proxima Power Protection
Products. And ask about the Proxima
Lifetime Equipment Protection Policy .
With the purchase of a ProLine 20 or 30,
or a Power Director, it guarantees the
survival of your hardware from a power
problem -for life."

Want to hear more about how to save the life of your
computer? Just write, and I'll send you, free, "Five
Ways to Stop Being a Computer Daredevil." Or call
800/582-2580 (800/582-0852 in CA).

Name .

Company _
Address _

City.

.State.

-Zip,

Phone

Return to: Computer Accessories Corporation, 6610 Nancy
Ridge Dr'we. San Diego, CA 92121.

PROXIMA

Circle 388 on Reader Service Card
(RESELLERS: 389)

by Computer Accessories Corporation

Power Director and Proxima are registered trademarks, and ProUrie is a trademark, of Computer Accessories Corp.
Computer Accessones Corporation will change rts name to Proxima Corporation in November. 1991.

tiuiiuiisew

J ^3

■ Designed with developer in
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REVIEW

Mac-ish Interfaces for Unix

Those of us steeped in the Unix reli-
gious experience can't understand
why everyone doesn't use it. In con-
versations with the anti-Unix crowd,
they say, "It's too hard to use." Until
now, there's been no debating that point.

It took someone else to do it, but a
layer of simplicity has finally been added
to Unix. Two products, IXI's X. desktop
2.0 and Visix Software's Looking Glass
1.0, are jockeying for position as the
standard desktop environment manager.
Both are being bundled with workstations.

These packages represent more than
just a pair of pretty faces. Why all the ex-
citement? Consider the Macintosh— it
owes its success to the simplicity of its in-
terface. After working with one Mac ap-
plication, you learn the mouse actions
and methods that drive virtually all pro-
grams for that environment.

Under the covers, however, the Mac
OS is teeming with complexity. It's just
hidden from the disinterested, and there-
in lies the key to a good operating envi-

ronment: Build in enough versatility to
handle any job that comes along, but in-
clude a layer for those who "just want to
run stuff." And that's just what Looking
Glass and X. desktop do.

I installed the software on an ALR
PowerVEISA 486/33 with 13 megabytes
of memory and a 600-MB hard disk
drive. A combination of Interactive Unix
2.2 and Interactive X Window 1.2
formed the software base, with the dis-
play served up by a combination of a Par-
adise 85 14/ A card with memory expan-
sion, a 512K-byte Orchid ProDesigner
VGA, and a Seiko CM-1440 high-resolu-
tion monitor.

If you're just starting out with Unix,
you'll want to get experienced help in
setting things up. Just getting the pack-
ages installed requires knowing a little
about Unix. Since new users are the main
target audience, the software should have
been easy, even effortless, to install.
While it's not all that difficult, I doubt
that the average new user could handle it.

With Looking Glass, the necessary li-
cense server is not started automatically.
Instead, a system has to be designated as
the server and the vis program run from
there. The documentation is lame on this
point, and if you follow the directions for
starting the program that appear in the
front of the manual, they won't work.
You'll get a message about a missing li-
cense server, but no information about
how to start it. The section on the license
server appears a few pages later.

Turning the Key

Running either package involves the sim-
ple entry of a command, Ig or xdt. X
Window needs to be running before you
enter these commands, and you can place
either command in a user's default X
start-up script for an automatic start.

Under X Window, windows cannot be
manipulated (i.e., resized, moved, or
iconified) without a window manager.
Both packages conform to the OSF/Motif
user interface specification, so the obvi-
ous choice is the Motif window manager
(mwm). Interactive, like many Unix ven-
dors, doesn't ship this standard with its
X Window package (it is available sepa-
rately). X. desktop fills this gap by pro-
viding its own window manager, which
you can enable with the -manager switch
from the command line. Looking Glass
has no window manager, but it will add a
Motif-like border to windows if you're
using a window manager (like uwm) that
doesn't add these adornments.

X. desktop opens one window, the
desktop, where all the initial icons sit
(see photo 1). The default configuration
places icons representing the root and
user's home directories, a supplies direc-
tory, and a trash can. You can add pro-
grams and files to the desktop by drag-
ging them there. Files are not moved
anywhere, but a file is marked as a
"ghost" in its original location to indi-
cate that it now lives on the desktop.

Double-clicking on any directory icon
opens a new window with a view of the
files in it. By default, files are represent-
ed by icons that convey some limited in-
formation. Directories are marked by fa-
miliar folder icons, executable files by a
console display, X Window executable
files by a big X, read-only files with a
pair of glasses, and so on.

There are over 90 different icons, but a
view of a typical directory is filled with
little consoles (executable files) and

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 227

REVIEW

Mac-ish Interfaces for Unix

/.desktop 2.0

U.S. Contact

UniPress (U.S. distributor)
2025 Lincoln Hwy.
Edison, NJ 08817
(800) 222-0550

European Contact

IXI, Ltd.

62-74 Burleigh St.
Cambridge CB1 10J
UK

44-223-462131

Hardware Needed

Graphical display and pointing device;
4 M B of free disk space

Software Needed

X Window System 3.0 or higher; compatible
Unix operating system (various); Motif
window manager (optional)

Price

Single-user version: $495
(Site licenses available)

Looking Glass 1.0

Company

Visix Software, Inc.

1 1 440 Commerce Park Dr. ,

Suite 600

Reston. VA 22091

(800) 832-8668

Hardware Needed

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4 MB of free disk space

Software Needed

X Window System 3.0 or higher; compatible
Unix operating system (various); Motif
window manager (optional)

Price

$495 to $1295, depending on platform
Inquiry 1019.

Inquiry 1018.

stacks of paper (regular files). A screen
full of identical icons is just clutter.
Thankfully, directory windows can also
be set to display filenames. This is fast
and useful. Each name has a tiny icon to
its left with a symbol that clearly shows
whether it is a directory, executable, or
regular file.

Directory views can be sorted in a
number of ways. All X. desktop menus
appear as pop-ups; you hold down mouse
button 1 in the background area of any
X. desktop window. This can be a bit
confusing— there's no clue that a menu
lies in wait.

Whether in an iconic or text view, files
are manipulated in the same manner. A
single click selects a file, and a double
click opens (with an editor, for example)
or executes it. Dragging an icon to a dif-
ferent directory moves it, and dragging
while pressing mouse button 2 copies it.
Clicking on an icon's name brings up a
window that lets you change the name.

Clicking on a file and invoking the
View option from the pop-up menu dis-
plays that file's characteristics. If you
have the access rights, you can modify a
file's permissions with a few clicks. An
annoyance is that the file type is repre-
sented as a four-character jumble that al-
most requires that you have a crib sheet
nearby to decipher it.

The supplies directory, shown as an
office supply cabinet, is intended to hold
utilities for backups, printing, and other

low-level needs. As it is an ordinary di-
rectory, any executable can be copied or
linked into the cabinet.

Looking Glass's desktop metaphor is
spread across the entire screen (see photo
2). It initially opens three windows: a
control window with pull-down menus
that control Looking Glass and perform
other functions, a desktop window that
holds frequently used application icons,
and a directory view. Unlike X. desktop,
Looking Glass uses pull-down menus ex-
clusively. The control window and direc-
tory views have their own menu panes.

Icon actions are only slightly different
from X. desktop; to copy a file, you drag
it with mouse button 1 and the Control
key pressed.

Looking Glass's directory view is its
best feature. It is a dual-paned window,
with a horizontal sash separating the di-
rectories from the files. The sash can be
moved to any position, changing the ratio
of visible directories and files.

There are hundreds of file icons, all
well drawn and most of them explicit in
their description of the file type. The
level of detail is extraordinary— many
icons map to specific named files. Open-
ing a directory view on /bin, for in-
stance, shows unique icons for the first
twelve files in that directory. Most com-
mon (and some not so common) com-
mands have icons bound to them. That is
the first feature that makes Looking
Glass a more useful iconic environment:

The default icons mean something.

The directory view can also be ex-
panded to a list of names, and here, too,
Visix outdid itself. The narrow view sim-
ply lists columns of files, similar to the
output of Is. But selecting Wide from the
pull-down menu brings up every piece of
information Unix knows about the file,
arranged in a useful columnar report.
Each column is topped by a small win-
dow containing the title. The column ti-
tles can be picked up and moved to other
locations or discarded, creating a totally
customized viewing format.

One of the informational items shown
in the Wide view is something that Look-
ing Glass figures out for itself— the file
type. In order to attach a descriptive icon
to some files, Looking Glass tries to de-
termine the file type. This can involve
anything from looking up the filename in
a table to opening the file and reading
enough of its contents to guess the type
(as the Unix file command does).

Opening a large directory for the first
time can be slow as Looking Glass sifts
through the files, attaching type data to
each. File types are kept in a separate
data file, .Igdb, to save the trouble of re-
generating the types every time a direc-
tory is opened.

Looking Glass also has a virtual desk-
top window into which you can put com-
monly used programs and files. The con-
trol window, in addition to holding the
main menu, serves another interesting
purpose. Whenever an application is
launched from within Looking Glass, its
icon and associated command appear in
the control window. Clicking on the icon
there and selecting a menu option will let
you kill the application, gracefully or
forcefully. This may seem minor, but it
makes Looking Glass a nearly complete
environment. Killing errant processes is
also one of the most confusing things for
new users to learn; this makes it a snap
(or, rather, a click).

Making Them Your Own

A large part of working with any graphi-
cal environment is tuning it to your own
preferences. With Looking Glass, this is
simplified somewhat by the set-it-and-
forget-it approach: The window place-
ments and settings you used during your
last session are restored in later ones. But
to go deeper than mere cosmetic adjust-
ments, both packages give you two op-
tions: icon editing and rule files.

If you don't find an icon that expresses
what you have in mind, you can create
one. X. desktop uses the X Window pro-
gram bitmap, while Looking Glass in-
cludes its own. The advantage to using

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REVIEW

Mac-ish Interfaces for Unix

bitmap is that files are stored in a stan-
dard X Window bit-map format and can
be generated and used by other X Win-
dow programs. Looking Glass stores its
bit maps in a proprietary-format file.

Looking Glass rule files add recogni-
tion for file types that are unsupported
by the base software. Attributes can be
attached to file types to set whether they
need to run in a terminal emulator win-
dow, whether a command can accept
multiple filename arguments, and
whether printing applies to the file and
how it should be handled. These defini-
tions are compiled for faster access. Even
though Looking Glass can be extended
with specialized file types, its behavior
can't be changed. There is no way to at-
tach a special meaning to mouse button
3, or to change the action taken when a
file is deleted.

This is where X. desktop really shines.
It comes complete with a full-featured
programming language, which can be
used to change every facet of X. desk-
top's behavior. Each icon type has pro-
gram code associated with it that deter-
mines how mouse-clicks (including
multiple clicks) and drags affect it, and

how it interacts with other icons.

Using the language, for example, a
Gateway icon could be created and at-
tached to a directory. Dropping files on
that icon might copy them to another sys-
tem on the network. Interaction with the
user can be arranged through utilities in-
cluded with X. desktop that pop up mes-
sage windows and take user input from
the keyboard.

The language is also extended to shell
scripts and to the command line through
the tellxdt command. Any X. desktop
programming language command can be
sent to xdt from the outside this way. Al-
though it would take some doing, you
could create entire domains of special-
ized icons that are tuned to a particular
purpose. And since the scripts are all in
plain text files, they are easily exchanged
between systems.

Telling Them Apart

In general, I am impressed with both
products. Looking Glass is much more
useful out of the box. With more stan-
dard icons, job control, and flexible
methods for looking at files, it can ap-
peal to both new and experienced Unix

users. It doesn't pander, but neither does
it force you to understand anything about
Unix. Users at any level could live com-
fortably under Looking Glass.

X. desktop, on the other hand, is less
immediately useful but much more
adaptable to specific requirements. Ex-
perienced users will delight in tinkering
with its programming language, wrap-
ping themselves in a custom environment
that is uniquely their own. New users can
get by, but will gain little from X. desk-
top until a helpful hacker comes along
and adds some new behavior. If I were a
system administrator charged with plac-
ing 20 workstations in the hands of new
Unix users, I'd spend the time to write
custom X. desktop programs that would
make the users' lives easier and cut down
on the number of problem calls.

So if you stop me on the street to tell
me how Unix isn't for you, you had better
prepare yourself. With X. desktop and
Looking Glass out there, you're clean
out of excuses. ■

Tom Yager is a technical editor and Unix
expert for the BYTE Lab. You can reach
him on BIX as "tyager. "

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Inter £sc:CaiH:el Tafe^Hext Fleid

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REVIEW

New Bubble-Jet Outpaces
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The BJ-lOe uses
a nonimpact
bubble-jet print
mechanism that
can produce 360-
by 360-dpi
resolution text and
graphics.

\

If a colleague produces an important
document with Canon's new BJ-lOe
printer and asks you to check the fine
print, legalese may be the furthest thing
from his or her mind. Instead, your co-
hort may be referring to the crisp, 360-
dot-per-inch resolution coming from this
impressive portable.

The BJ-lOe serves users of PCs (and
Macs, through third-party vendors) who
print more than notes to themselves on
cross-country flights or while hunkering
down in a hotel room. The $499 printer
can deliver high-quality letters and re-
ports that you'll feel fine about distribut-
ing to your business contacts. In return,
you'll pay weight and size premiums

BJ-10e

Company

Canon U.S.A., Inc.
One Canon Plaza
Lake Success, NY 11042
(516)488-6700

Hardware Needed

PC with parallel interface, or Macintosh
with optional serial-to-parallel cabling
interface

Price

$499

compared to portables like Kodak's Di-
conix 150 plus. Yet neither its 4 pounds
(versus Diconix's S'/o pounds) nor its
\lVi - by 8'/2- by 2-inch dimensions take
the BJ-lOe out of the portable arena. Its
sharp, 360-dpi quality, however, does
separate it from the portable pack. In
fact, the BJ-lOe surpasses the quality of
some full-size, desktop ink-jet printers
at four times the price.

Bubble Brigade

The "BJ" in the printer's name stands
for bubble jet, a nonimpact print mecha-
nism closely related to ink-jet technol-
ogy, except that air bubbles force ink
from any of 64 nozzles. An electrical
charge produces the bubble, and the re-
sulting heat dries the ink almost as it hits
the paper. Canon claims that the ink
won't smear, but that's not entirely true.
Careless fingers will cause smudges if
you touch a fresh page. Let the ink dry
for a couple of minutes, though, and a
single pass of a highlighting pen won't do
any damage. (Multiple passes will mud-
dy your prose.)

To prevent ink evaporation, a small
arm caps the print head when the BJ-lOe
is idle. I left the printer unused for three
weeks and then reinstated it without any
dried-ink problems.

This is Canon's second bubble-jet
printer now on the market. Last year, the
company began shipping the BJ-130e, a

desktop version capable of 132 charac-
ters per second in letter-quality mode.
Canon hints that more bubble-jet printers
are in the offing, possibly including a
color model sometime in 1991 .

Unlike the desktop BJ-130e's print
mechanism, which consists of a separate
ink cartridge and print nozzles, the BJ-
lOe uses a cartridge that integrates both
elements. Canon rates BJ-lOe cartridge
life at 700,000 characters, or about 200
single-spaced pages, according to my
calculations. The $25 cartridges don't
leak or spill ink, and they snap into place
easily.

Using DIP switches, you can select
either BJ-130e or IBM Proprinter X24E
emulations. Currently, you must emulate
the BJ-130e using packages that offer the
correct software drivers to achieve full
360- by 360-dpi graphics resolution.
Graphics in Proprinter X24E emulation
are limited to 180- by 360-dpi resolution,
although Canon says it is working with
software vendors to develop drivers for
full graphics resolution in that mode.

Software drivers written for the BJ-
130e are compatible with the portable
version, including Windows (Windows
3.0 drivers were being developed at press
time), Microsoft Word, WordPerfect
5.0, QuattroPro, First Publisher, and
three PostScript interpreters: UltraScript
from QMS, TeleTypesetting's TScript,
and GDT Softworks' JetLink Express
2.0. QMS, GDT Softworks, and Tele-
Typesetting also offer software drivers
and serial-to-parallel interfaces that let
you hook up Macs to the BJ-lOe and print
at full resolution.

Clamshell Alliance

The BJ-lOe's self-contained case and
charcoal color resemble the clamshell
portable computers on the market. While
the BJ-lOe is a natural for the road (a re-
chargeable battery pack weighing about 9
ounces is a $50 option). Canon markets it
as a portable that doesn't have to hiber-
nate between business trips. A built-in
stand and optional ($90) 30-sheet paper
feeder mean you can set it up on your
desk as a backup printer to dash off short
letters and memos that you don't have to
track down at the networked printer.

You'll sacrifice little in the way of
print quality. The BJ-lOe prints in either
a so-called economy or a high-quality
mode. Print speed remains the same in
either case, but in the economy mode less
ink shoots out to print characters, for
longer cartridge life. Characters sit on
the page clearly defined; put a magnify-
ing glass to them and their jaggies show,
but the quality isn't too far from a laser

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 235

REVIEW

New Bubble-Jet Outpaces Portable Printers

"Good-by, Grover's

"Good-by, Grover's

"Good-by, Grover's

Corners ... Oh,

Corners . . .Oh,

Corners . . .Oh,

earth, you're too

earth, you're too

earth, you're too

wonderful for

wonderful for

wonderful for

anybody to realize."

anybody to realize."

anybody to realize."

Figure 1: Text samples from a LaserJet Series III (top), the Canon BJ-lOe (middle), and Epson 's EPI-4000 ink-jet printer rank
the BJ-lOe 's output closer to laser-printer quality, thanks, in part, to fewer jaggies on the edges of characters.

printer's. In fact, when I pitted the BJ-
lOe's output against the Hewlett-Packard
LaserJet Series III and a full-size Epson
EPI-4000 ink-jet printer, the BJ-lOe
came in a comparatively close second to
the laser printer (see figure 1).

I printed samples on plain xerographic
stock and 25 percent bond letterhead
with fine results. The BJ-lOe will not
break any speed records; mine averaged
about 75 seconds to print a full page of
text in high-quality mode. But the bidi-
rectional print (in text mode) doesn't
make you feel as though you're waiting
an inordinate amount of time.

The automatic sheet feeder does away
with the frustrations of loading paper one
page at a time. It automatically handles
letter-size paper; you can print on A4
sheets if you feed the paper in manually.
The feeder doesn't accept envelopes, but
the printer handles them easily through a
rear path. Printing continuous forms is
not part of the printer's capabilities.

The feeder worked without hanging
up, even on a series of 10-page text files.
However, printed pages tend to gather in
a clump after they exit the printer and
may foul exiting sheets.

I printed a line drawing in 360-dpi res-
olution and found the tones to be an im-
pressive range from solid black to white.

with sharp definition of crosshatches and
other patterns (see figure 2). The printer
slows down a bit with graphics because
it switches into a unidirectional print
mode, but the clarity and resolution of
the final image make the wait worth-
while.

Another plus is the printer's quiet op-
eration. Step into a coworker's cubicle
while the BJ-lOe is running, and you're
more likely to hear the occasional clank
of the paper rollers than the print nozzle.

Bubble Trouble

Nevertheless, this handy peripheral is
not without some unnerving flaws. The
user's manual is so perfunctory that you
will wish it came with Cliffs Notes to
help you decipher it. I found myself read-
ing some confusingly written sentences
over and over, trying to glean their
meaning. Don't scour the manual for a
technical-support number, because one
isn't listed. The manual tells you to call
your service representative, but don't be
deterred. Dial (800) 423-2366 and you
will reach Canon's support line. I called
anonymously and received immediate
and knowledgeable service. Canon's
fledgling BBS, at (516) 488-6528, posts
a few new software drivers.

I also found myself cringing at the

printer's frequent chirping. The printer
chirps in lieu of control-panel lights that
tell you if you're in draft or letter-quality
mode and whether you're set for pica,
elite, or double-high characters. As you
press control buttons, you hear a series of
chirps in a variety of tones to guide you
in your selections. The chirps attracted
a stream of coworkers into my cubicle
wanting to know what new computer
game I had found. So hope that anyone
sitting next to you on a crowded flight is
patient or plugged into a headset.

Worst of all, I found these audio codes
confusing and frustrating— I was never
sure of the setting until the printer actu-
ally started producing text. If you're
hearing-impaired, this printer may be
impossible to use conveniently.

Over time, I grew more comfortable
with the control panel, but I would still
prefer a more intuitive visual display.
Even so. Canon may have a hit. Laptop
owners who want high-quality output
from a portable printer that can serve
double-duty on the desktop should con-
sider this bubble-jet printer. The price
alone should make you feel, well, posi-
tively effervescent. ■

Alan Joch is a BYTE technical editor. You
can reach him on BIX as "ajoch. "

236 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

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SYSTEM

Wayne Rash Jr.

REVIEW

A Poqet Full of Power

The Poqet PC
weighs only
1 pound, and
programs such as
Lotus Agenda and
Act are available
on ROM cards
made specifically
for it.

Poqet PC

Company

Poqet Computer Corp.
650 North Mary Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(800) 624-8999, ext. 1590
(408) 737-8100

Components (as reviewed)

Processor: 7-MHz 80C88
Memory: 51 2K bytes of RAM; 640K
bytes of ROM

Mass storage: 64K-byte RAM card:
512K-byte RAM card
Display: 7- by 2y8-inch supertwist LCD;
MDA mode 25 rows by 80 columns,
CGA mode 640 by 200 pixels
Keyboard: 77-key

I/O interfaces: XT bus edge connector
Size

83/4 X 4y,o X 9/io inches; 1 pound

Price

$2345

Inquiry 1082.

Poqet Computer's Poqet PC is a re-
markable device. Whether you see
this tiny computer as a workhorse
or an executive toy, a 1-pound, IBM
PC-compatible computer slightly larger
than a pocket calendar that runs for 100
hours on two AA alkaline batteries is in-
deed a technical achievement.

The basic Poqet includes 512K bytes
of system RAM, 640K bytes of ROM, a
64K-byte RAM card, a file transfer
cable, and a carrying case for $1995. My
test machine also included a 512K-byte
RAM card ($350) and special ROM-card
versions of Act ($395), XyWrite ($495),
and Lotus Agenda ($395). Built around a
7-MHz 80C88, the machine is slightly
faster than an IBM XT.

When BYTE first saw the Poqet (see
"A PC in Your Pocket," November
1989), it was clear that this was not a m_a-
chine for everyone. At the time, the com-
puter's LCD had clarity problems, and
the miniature keyboard was impractical
for any task that required more than a few
keystrokes. The display problem is fixed,
and the keyboard is improved, but the
keyboard's small size still limits the ma-
chine's usefulness.

The keyboard and screen are just two
of the compromises required to create a
computer the size of the Poqet. Another
is the machine's 5 12K-byte system RAM
limit— the Poqet simply doesn't have
enough room inside for more memory.
This limitation is less of a problem than it

sounds, however, since programs in the
Poqet 's 640K bytes of internal ROM
(i.e., DOS 3.3, GWBASIC, PoqetTools,
and PoqetLink utilities) or on optional
ROM cartridges don't have to be loaded
into RAM to execute.

Tiny Typing

The Poqet's keyboard has a 77-key
QWERTY layout with 10 function keys
across the top and a numeric keypad su-
perimposed over the letter keys on the
right side of the keyboard. You activate
the keypad by holding down the blue Po-
qet key next to the space bar. This key
also activates several other secondary
functions on the keyboard.

Some Poqet-key combinations simply
invoke lesser-used keys on standard key-
boards, such as the Fll and F12 keys.
But the Poqet key also controls several
special functions, including contrast and
brightness controls, power management,
the keyboard lock, and the alarm and
speaker controls.

Pressing Poqet-Escape invokes Poqet-
Tools, a SideKick-like pop-up menu that
includes a calculator, a text editor, a
scheduler, an address book, and a com-
munications program. The menu also in-
cludes a setup utility that controls power
management and other functions.

The keyboard, which measures just
8'/2 inches wide, performs well for its
size, although the '/2-inch-square key
caps are so small and so closely spaced

that you probably won't want to do any
touch-typing. Still, touch-typing is not
impossible, as one of my coworkers (who
has very small hands) demonstrated.

The Poqet never truly shuts off. Press-
ing the I/O key, just above the Return
key, shuts off the display and CPU but
continues to power memory to protect
programs and data. When you reactivate
the machine, it returns to the state it was
in before you deactivated it. Even during
normal operation, the CPU goes into
sleep mode between keystrokes, and the
system shuts down the display after sit-
ting idle for 2 minutes.

Peering Ahead

The 7- by 2%-inch screen presents a full
25 rows by 80 columns in either CGA or
MDA mode. The default is MDA. The
characters, while small, are crisp and
easy to read: They're about the same size
as the text on this page.

Although the screen does not have
backlighting, it's still possible to use it
under average lighting conditions. The
screen folds to any angle, but it will not
fold open completely if you have a serial
cable or data transfer cable attached to
the machine. Along the bottom of the
screen are indicator blocks that tell,
among other things, function-key status,
when you're accessing the ROM disk,
when the battery is low, and when the
power management software is enabled.

The Poqet is free of external controls

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 239

REVIEW

A PoQET Full of Power

and connectors, except for a single XT-
bus edge-card connector at the rear of the
unit that accepts a data transfer cable
(which is included) or an optional serial
or parallel cable, and two memory-card
slots on the underside that hold RAM or
ROM cards.

RAM cards, used for data storage,
come in 64K-byte and 512K-byte sizes; a
1-MB card was still in development at
press time. My test unit included a 512K-
byte RAM card. Despite a recent price

cut (the 512K-byte card dropped from
$595 to $350), the cards are an expensive
way to store data. One alternative is to
configure the Poqet's 512K bytes of sys-
tem RAM as a RAM disk. Another is to
buy Poqet's external 3 '/2-inch 1.44-MB
floppy disk drive for $395, but this re-
duces portability and cuts battery life
down to 20 hours. An optional memory-
card reader for desktop PCs, which was
unavailable at press time, should make
using the cards more convenient.

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Moving Bits

The Poqet's file transfer cable attaches to
the serial port of your desktop computer.
Using PoqetLink, you can send and re-
ceive files at 115,200 bps. If you can find
enough room in RAM, standard IBM PC
software will work. I was able to use the
Norton Utilities and WordStar 4.0 with-
out problems. Other packages, including
WordPerfect, wouldn't fit on a 5I2K-
byte RAM card.

Poqet has received a great deal of co-
operation from software vendors, who
have ported their packages to ROM cards
for use in the Poqet. ROM and RAM
cards slide like tiny drawers into slots in
the bottom of the Poqet's case.

I tested three ROM card applications:
Lotus Agenda, Act (a business-contact
tracking package), and XyWrite. Other
available programs include Lucid 3-D,
Lotus 1-2-3, AlphaWorks, and Lotus
Metro/Express. Each program operates
exactly like its disk-based brethren, and
each costs the same.

Poqet the Difference

Despite the Poqet's technical accom-
plishment, I didn't find the machine use-
ful. I was unable to make it slide into an
inside jacket pocket, so the computer had
to stay in my briefcase, where it wasn't as
handy as a scheduler. It's also too small
for most people to type on to any extent.
A Poqet user, it would seem, has to be
satisfied with writing brief memos and
working with small spreadsheets. That's
a fairly limited use for a machine that
costs about S2000.

Poqet Computer markets the machine
to field salespeople and some managers.
But even these people are likely to be bet-
ter served by a notebook-size computer,
such as the Zenith MinisPort or the NEC
UltraLite. Each of those machines has a
more usable keyboard and a disk drive,
and each is about twice the size of the Po-
qet. Each also costs less in its base con-
figuration than the Poqet.

Whether the Poqet is an executive tool
or an executive toy is for you to decide,
but as powerful as it is for its size, the
machine's form factor ultimately limits
its effectiveness. In this case, the size
seems just a bit too small. ■

Wayne Rash Jr. is a BYTE contributing
editor and avid laptop user. He is also
technical director of the Network Integra-
tion Group of American Management
Systems, Inc. (Arlington, VA). He con-
sults with the federal government on
microcomputers and communications.
You can contact him on BIX as "wayne-
rash, " or in the to. wayne conference.

240 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

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trademarks of their respective owners. Specifications subject to change without notice. Subject to occasional invcntorv- shonagcs. We support the ethical use of software. To report software copvrietit violations, call the
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C Speed
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Circle 313 on Reader Service Card

SOFTWARE

Barry Nance

REVIEW

One-Size-Fits-All Code with Lattice C

No one can argue this: Software por-
tability is now more important
than ever. The problem for devel-
opers, though, is that creating a program
that runs under DOS, extended DOS,
and OS/2 is no easy task. Often it means
collecting a huge library of disjoint pro-
gramming tools. And if you also con-
sider the increasing importance of Unix,
the problem becomes even bigger.

Lattice's newest C compiler package,
the 80286 C Development System for
DOS and OS/2, addresses much of this
concern. It enables developers to create
programs that run under DOS, extended
DOS, and OS/2. The kicker is that, with
Lattice, all three environments can be
supported by a single executable file.
And Lattice includes over 800 functions,
many of which mirror Unix calls.

Other development environments
exist, of course, that let you use extended
memory (i.e., separate third-party DOS
extender products, OS/2 itself, and the
386 enhanced mode of Windows 3.0).
But Lattice is the first major compiler
vendor to include a DOS extender with
its compiler that gives DOS programs ac-
cess to 286 or 386 extended memory.
There are no fees or royalties when you
distribute the Lattice extended DOS fa-
cility with your application. And the

Lattice 80286 C
Development System
for DOS and OS/2

Company

Lattice, Inc.

Subsidiary of SAS Institute, Inc.
2500 South Highland Ave.
Lombard, IL 60148
(800) 444-4309

Hardware Needed

A 286- or 386-based IBM AT, PS/2, or
compatibie, 51 2K bytes of RAM
(2.5 megabytes for OS/2), 5 MB of free
space on a fixed disk, and parallel port
for copy-protect device

Software Needed

DOS 2. 1 or higher; OS/2 1 .0 or higher

Price

$495

Inquiry 1225.

users of your application do not necessar-
ily have to upgrade to OS/2 when your
software starts running out of RAM.

The Shootin' Match

The new Lattice development environ-
ment includes all the tools and library
routines of the regular compiler product
(version 6.0). You get a full-screen sym-
bolic debugger, CodeProbe, that runs
under both DOS and OS/2. The LASM
assembler is mostly compatible with
MASM, although it does not handle
MASM-style memory-model directives
and some assembler macros.

For projects with many source code
modules, a make utility (LMK) is sup-
plied that is a superset of the Unix make.
EXTRACT and BUILD utilities are also
supplied to help you create your make
files. Other utilities let you find and op-
tionally change all occurrences of a
specified string in your source code files
as well as produce source code statistics.
Lattice provides its own linker, bind pro-
gram (for constructing family mode ap-
plications), and object file librarian.

The standard library is fully ANSI
compliant and incorporates many func-
tions you'd find in a Unix environment.
Lattice has added several useful func-
tions of its own to the standard library:
The "build string list" and "sort string
list" functions are examples of routines
that tempt you to forgo strict ANSI cod-
ing in your programs. In addition to the
standard library of functions. Lattice
gives you these application libraries:

• Communications Library: supports
XMODEM, YMODEM, and
Kermit.

• Database Library: creates and
manipulates dBASE Ill-compatible
files.

• Graphics Library: has several
drawing routines, but limited font
support.

• Screen Management Library : text-
mode routines very much like Unix
curses.

Installing, Tuning, and the Dongle

The installation of the Lattice 80286 C
compiler and its tools is straightforward.
Basically, you choose whether you want
OS/2 support, and you pick the memory
models you want; the installation pro-
gram then puts the files into the correct

directories. It requires about 5 mega-
bytes of disk space. To take advantage of
the features of this compiler, I used my
Gateway 2000 386/33 computer as a test
bed. It has 4 MB of extended memory,
and I regularly use it for both OS/2 and
DOS development work.

The installation process is noteworthy
in two ways. First, you must let the DOS
extender software "learn" about your
hardware by running the TUNE utility.
TUNE attempts to find the fastest way to
enter and leave protected mode on your
system, possibly crashing your system in
the process. Users of software you pro-
duce with Lattice's extender will have to
TUNE it, as well.

Second, Lattice decided to copy-pro-
tect this compiler product with a hard-
ware device, called a dongle, that at-
taches to your parallel port. The dongle
sits transparently between your printer
cable and the parallel port. There is no
mention on the package about any sort of
copy protection. Frankly, I was annoyed
by the implications of copy-protecting a
professional software development tool.

Compiling Your Code

To check out the compiler, I created ex-
tended DOS versions of the LAN-aware
programs that accompany my book Net-
work Programming in C. I also compiled
the Dhrystone benchmark program.
Comparing the size of the resulting exe-
cutable files with the output of other C
compilers proved difficult. The bound
family mode version of any program is
naturally larger than a pure DOS or pure
OS/2 version. Being able to create a sin-
gle executable file that works correctly
under DOS, extended DOS, OS/2, and
the DOS compatibility box is an impres-
sive feat.

Performance-wise, the Lattice com-
piler emits code that is comparable to that
of other C compilers. The Dhrystone
benchmark ran in 5 seconds no matter
which C compiler I used. The results
were consistent when I ran the program
in DOS mode, in extended DOS mode,
and under OS/2.

When you tell the compiler to opti-
mize your code, it invokes a separate step
(the global optimizer, LGO) just prior to
linking. Because the optimizer gets to
see as much of the emitted object file as it
wants, the optimizer can make intelli-
gent decisions about what to streamline.

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 245

REVIEW

One-Size-Fits-All Code with Lattice C

T

he

Lattice debugger is a
command-line debugger
at heart.

It looks for opportunities to turn func-
tions into in-line code, eliminate dead
code assignments, perform peephole op-
timizations, eliminate common subex-
pressions, and do other things to make
your code faster (or smaller, depending
on what you specify).

If you have variables marked vola-
tile, the optimizer won't eliminate ref-
erences to them. Likewise, if you have a
function that calls itself recursively, you
can control the depth to which the opti-

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HCL-eXceed Plus/851 4A, a pro-
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mizer "unrolls" the code as it transforms
called subroutines into in-line code.

The Lattice Toolbox

The Lattice debugger, CodeProbe, oper-
ates in full-screen mode but is a com-
mand-line debugger at heart. Interest-
ingly, when you choose a CodeProbe
menu option, the software emits a line of
debugger commands to itself. This inter-
nal discourse is visible in the debugger's
dialog window. CodeProbe works in
DOS, extended DOS, and OS/2 modes.
It supports conditional breakpoints, data
watches, slow-motion execution, and
other customary debugger facilities.

The text editor that comes with the
Lattice compiler, LSE, is adequate for
most programming purposes. It's quick,
has an interface to the Lattice compiler,
and allows multiple source code files to
be edited in multiple windows. Several
other tools are provided with the com-
piler. The linker, LMB, supports both
code and data overlays.

The screen management routines that
you get with the compiler are a close ad-
aptation of Unix curses. I was able to
easily move a small Unix program from
an IBM RS/6000 AIX machine to my
Gateway computer and compile it for
OS/2. I smiled inwardly to see a typical
curses user interface appear in an OS/2
session when I ran the program.

Lattice does not supply a hypertext
on-line reference with its compiler, al-
though, of course, each part of the devel-
opment environment has an associated
help file that you can access. Speaking of
help, the on-line support for the Lattice
compiler that has been available for years
on BIX has been discontinued by Lat-
tice's parent company, SAS.

The Lattice 80286 C Development
System for DOS and OS/2 is a well-docu-
mented, high-powered environment. As
I put the compiler and tools through their
paces, I tried to visualize myself as a de-
veloper who has a memory-hungry appli-
cation. Faced with the decision to shoe-
horn my software and stick with DOS or
force my customers to upgrade to OS/2,
I'd see the Lattice DOS extender as a
welcome alternative. And the curses in-
terface might encourage me to port my
application to run under Unix so I could
take advantage of that marketplace as
well. But as good as this compiler is. Lat-
tice may have tied a millstone around its
neck with the copy protection. ■

Barry Nance is the author of Network
Programming in C and is the exchange
editor for the IBM Exchange on BIX. He
can be reached on BIX as "barryn. "

246 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990 Circle 166 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 167)

WATCOM C8.0/386

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Fast, tight code

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Graphics library

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WATCOM C is a trademark of W.ATCONI Systems Inc. Trademarked names are the properties of their respective owners.
C Copmght 1990 W.ATCOM Products Inc.

Introducing OmnistorT
the first 5V4" optical disk
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APPLICATION

Doug Dayton

REVIEW

Document Management
on Networked PCs

h ?fajn Cata

Brief for
BM
IIT
OWLE

HHTStoy B3/B6/9(l 4:ie

rictivii^' Log FS

JtecK Out FIB

ttect Out J ork. . . ShiffflB
Co y DocBieDt .... Shift'F"

ocooeiit List F3

assiord Clearance. . . Ctrl'P
Previons evisian . . Shift'F?

tatistics SMtt'F3

Sntoit to nil lest . . .41t'F4

ies Bocnaent F4

Espect settleaent ont of coort.
SS04. reference spreadsheet for no

CBHSEB OUT 03.W/90 \fi DBB

Photo 2: Imara lets you ►
attach electronic notes called
MemoTabs to document
images.

IT

JEIEF

88/17,'!

I M Photo 1: Propound 's card
catalog keeps track of several
important document
statistics and searchable field
descriptions.

c iici i^Livn^rt. cnaiKs up «tli ^ ^'^
. arterly profit in roi .;

. ~!'r> Sr-^-tor^

lL^MCAiiit'i;<,id

om char ging sales
Thank you in advance tor \

As the number of files on a network
increases, locating files becomes
more difficult, and tracking multi-
ple versions of a document becomes vir-
tually impossible. Time is often wasted
by working with out-of-date documents,
and file access becomes harder to con-
trol. Perhaps most worrisome, frustrated
system users may become less disci-
plined about file backups and may resort
to archiving documents instead of simply
deleting their obsolete files.

Propound, from Wang Informatics
Legal & Professional Systems, and Ima-
ra, from Imara Research, take two dif-
ferent approaches to the problem. Pro-
Found is a character-based DOS applica-
tion designed to help manage word
processing and other live documents on a
network; Imara is an OS/2 Presentation
Manager-based application that manages
graphics and documents that have been
stored as image files.

Both Imara and Propound support dis-
tributed (client-server) computing by en-
abling files on different file servers to be
stored and accessed transparently across
a network. And both products use the
metaphor of a library with a document
catalog to control access, storage, and ar-
chiving of files that have been checked
into their databases.
Imara is aimed at companies moving

toward a paperless office. Imara users
scan or import paper documents into
Imara' s Structured Query Language
(SQL) database as compressed Group 4
fax files. Then Imara's image documents
are shared among different workgroup
members using Imara's built-in E-mail
facility (called I-mail).

Propound provides a more pedestrian
solution to document management, rely-
ing on the character-based DOS interface
and working with files created using
word processors, spreadsheets, or other
applications. ProFound's mainstream
solution contrasts sharply with Imara's
attempt to redefine how office workers
share information. But while both prod-
ucts provide features that can help you
manage your distributed office systems,
neither provides a complete solution to
the problem of distributed file man-
agement.

ProFound Document Libraries

Propound helps network administrators
manage their users' file requests and
document storage requirements by auto-
matically copying, distributing, and
backing up their documents across mul-
tiple file servers. When you first start
ProFound, you can go into one of two
areas: the work area or the library.
The work area is where documents and

files are created and edited. A catalog
card is automatically created in the work
area as each new document is created,
and it is updated when any revisions are
made.

You can configure ProFound to auto-
matically start the application you will
be using after you create your catalog
card. After a document is created or re-
vised, ProFound checks it into the li-
brary. The library contains one or more
catalog files that contain a catalog card
for each document. Different work-
groups can be assigned to one of 26 dif-
ferent sections in the library. A work-
group can be assigned to its own catalog
and section, or many workgroups can be
assigned to the same catalog and section.

Each catalog card comprises two
screens. The first contains identifying
information for the document, including
title, author, department, operator, cli-
ent, matter, comments, and keywords.
The second screen contains document
statistics such as date created, last access
date, last user, number of revisions kept,,
archive interval, chargeback method and
statistics for billing clients (including the
actual and charged number of key-
strokes), pages printed, and time. Most
of the field descriptions can be custom-
ized (see photo 1).

Once a catalog card has been created,
ProFound can perform searches on 18
different fields, including indexed fields
such as author, department, date, client,
and matter, and on user-definable key-
words. You can use both range and Bool-
ean search parameters to find any docu-
ments that have been checked into Pro-
Found. ProFound also does full-text
indexing and searching.

Documents that match your search re-
quest can be previewed in the library,
copied to a new document in your work
area, or checked out for modification.
You can store document templates in Pro-
Found, but inexperienced users would
benefit from having these set up by their
system administrator.

ProFound automatically maintains an
audit trail of activity for each document,
and it can maintain up to 99 revisions of
each document. Most users will main-
tain only a few revisions and will save
disk space by archiving their older revi-
sions. You can configure ProFound to
automatically back up files to specified
directories and to automatically archive
files after a predetermined number of
days, if the files have not been checked
out for that period of time.

Access to documents is controlled
through the use of passwords, which can
be assigned for each operator, author.

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 251

"The World's Most
Accurate Mouse"

REVIEW

DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT ON NETWORKED PCS

Propound
Company

Wang Informatics Legal &

Professional Systems
21 1 1 East Highland, Suite 400
Phoenix, AZ 85016
(602) 224-0855

Hardware Needed

IBM XT, AT, PS/2, or compatible with 640K
bytes of RAM and a hard disk drive with at
least 2 MB of storage

Software Needed

DOS 3.1 or higher and Novell NetWare 2.15
or 386; Banyan VINES 3.1 or higher; or
3Com 3Share network operating system

Price

First five users: $995
Inquiry 1076.

department, or document. Users can be
assigned access or modification rights to
any or all documents in the system.

Propound uses a WordPerfect-like in-
terface with pull-down menus, pop-up
windows, on-line context-sensitive help,
and lots of command keys. Propound is
easy for experienced WordPerfect users
to learn and is relatively easy to set up.

The system administrator guide is
clearly organized and uses a step-by-step
approach. However, the guide does not
provide a top-down view of how the pro-
gram' s modules interact. It is best to sim-
ply read the system administrator guide
cover-to-cover before setting up the pro-
gram.

As with many database programs, in-
terdependent modules eliminate any
hope of shortcuts. Network administra-
tors should plan to spend some time de-
termining the most efficient way to set up
ProFound's library and to distribute
their workgroup's documents across
their network's servers. Once Propound
has been set up, however, its on-screen
prompting should enable experienced
word processors to master Propound in
an hour or two.

Propound has been integrated with
WordPerfect 5.1 and Jurisoft's Com-
pareRite. If you are using WordPerfect,
the Propound interface takes over when
you create, load, or save a document.
When you save documents, ProFound's
Integrated Document Card Screen is dis-

•< — Circle 235 on Reader Service Card

Imara
Company

Imara Research Corp.
111 Peter St., Suite 804
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5V2H1
(416)581-1740

Hardware Needed

Intel 386SX-, 386-, or i486-based
workstations with 4 MB of RAM and VGA;
HP ScanJet; HP LaserJet;
GammaLink's GammaFax adapter; 30-
MB hard disk drive; network server with
8 MB of RAM and 100-MB hard disk drive
or optical disk storage

Software Needed

OS/2 1.2; OS/2-compatible network
operating system; network-based SQL
database server

Price

First two users: $2995
Inquiry 1077.

played, enabling you to check your docu-
ment into Propound without leaving the
WordPerfect interface. If Jurisoft's
CompareRite has been installed, past re-
visions can be red-lined from inside Pro-
Found.

Although Propound is designed to
work with any office workgroup, its most
obvious audience is professional offices
that do time or project billing. Propound
automatically records keystrokes, time
spent in each document, and the number
of pages that have been printed. This in-
formation is displayed on each docu-
ment's catalog card and can be printed in
a disbursement report. Charges can be
accrued on a straight time basis or on a
per-document basis. After the clients
have been entered into ProFound's client
section. Propound automatically verifies
that documents belong to a specific client
and generates a disbursement charge re-
port that can be exported into several
time-billing programs.

Propound requires an IBM XT, AT,
PS/2, or compatible with 640K bytes of
RAM and a hard disk drive with at least 2
MB of storage. The program runs on DOS
3.1 or higher and supports Novell Ad-
vanced NetWare 2.15 or higher, NetWare
386, or Banyan VINES 3. 1 or higher.

Imara Imaging

Imara uses a client-server architecture
built on Microsoft's OS/2-based SQL
Server. Once you have stored documents

Sleek, dependable and
compatible. The PC Mouse III
from Mouse Systems.

Pin-point digitizer accuracy using
patented M5 optics. Supports
Microsoft™ MSG, and PS/2
protocols. 100% hardware and
software compatibility guarantee.
True lifetime warranty. Get your
hand on the world's most
accurate mouse today!

Special
In troductory

^ ^ Offer

la MMWaig Buy a PG Mouse III
HtWW*! and receive a free
copy of Power Panel™ the
ultimate DOS utility shell.
(PC Magazine Editor's Choice,
June 12, 1990.)

MOUSE
SYSTEMS

47505 Seabridge Drive
Fremont, CA 94538

(415) 656-1117

The following are trademarks of their respective
companies: PC Mouse lU, Power Panel.
Mouse Systems Corporation; Microsoft,
Microsoft Corporation; PS/2, IBM.

Announcing the end of the
SCSI compatibility crisis:

The SCSI disk controller from DPT
thafs so intelligent, it doesn't
need special software drivers!

/Fall '90

U'likou-t ^crf£iucLr<L dnvers

SCSI connectivity hassles are a thing of the past! SmartConnex
malces it possible for the first time to run SCSI dislc drives without
special software drivers or BIOS ROMS that cause compatibility
problems. Just plug in SmartConnex and you're all set— exactly as
though you were using a standard ST506 drive. And, you'll enjoy
optional connectivity to hundreds of other peripherals with
appropriate software, including tape and optical drives.

SmartConnex is compatible with all PC ATs and operating sys-
tems, and is guaranteed to work with all existing AT applications.
So it isn't necessary to buy new programs or make any changes
to system software. No matter what operating system or SCSI
disk drive you use, you won't have to worry about controller
compatibility

SmartConnex's on-board 68000 processor and custom-designed
ASIC chips make it the highest-performance controller on the
market. Its unique design pushes the fastest SCSI disk drives to
their top performance limits!

November 12-16, 1990
Las Vegas, Nevada

SmartConnex costs less and performs better pan other prod-
ucts-it's that simple. When you consider cost along with Smart-
Connex's other great advantages, there's no smarter move!

Distributed Processing Technology was the first to develop
caching disk controllers and hardware disk mirroring for micro-
computers, and is the recognized leader in the industry Our
products have been at work for over a decade, speeding up minis
and mainframes. We offer a 1-year warranty, clear documenta-
tion, and outstanding technical support.

Pui -Srnar-hdonne/ ^^-the ix^t /

Call today and find out more about the end of the SCSI compati-
bility crisis-with SmartConnex, from DPT.

DPT

Distributed

Processing

Technology

132 Candace Drive
Maitland, FL 32751
Phone: (407) 830-5522
FAX: (407) 260-5366

Circle 116 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 117)

REVIEW

Document Management on Networked PCs

in Imara as compressed Group 4 fax
images, you can share them within a PC-
network environment.

Imara uses a five-level hierarchical
cataloging system. Users define their
image database by creating sets, which
are analogous to file cabinets; catego-
ries, which are like file drawers; and file
folders, which contain ^/ocMwienfs. Docu-
ments are composed of one or more
image and text pages. Imara's database
can store up to 40 million pages. Once
documents have been stored in Imara's
database, you can access them through
Imara's query-by-forms and keyword
search facilities.

After categories have been set up, you
can fill in a form template for each docu-
ment you wish to check in. These tem-
plates are similar to ProFound's catalog
cards and enable you to search for docu-
ments using structured information,
such as owner, topic, action-due-date,
and priority, and to perform unstruc-
tured searches using keywords that cross-
reference information in different files.

Individual pages can be retrieved and
displayed at the user's workstation and
can be annotated with electronic Memo-

Tabs. MemoTabs are electronic notes
that provide a convenient way to share
comments about a particular image.
They can be either displayed on the.
image or hidden to facilitate printing.

Users create their filing system by
creating new sets, categories, and folders
interactively with Imara, or by using
Imara's Execution Language (IXL) to
create a database script. If you will be
moving many document^ into Imara, it is
much faster to create a database using
IXL than to create the database as you
import your files.

Imara's script language is straightfor-
ward— Imara has done a good job of pro-
tecting the user from the SQL Server in-
terface. But the documentation assumes
that the system administrator has a thor-
ough unaerstanding of SQL Server and
of the networking environment.

When you start Imara, you see four
icons: a server, an in box, an out box,
and a trash can. The server icon includes
all the document and image files that
have been stored in different sets, catego-
ries, and file folders. The in box lets you
scan or fax graphics files and import
ASCII text files into the system. The out

box lets you fax, print, export, or I-mail
files. The trash can lets you delete or re-
move files (see photo 2).

When you first click on a page in a
document, two windows appear: a page
tool and a page window. The page win-
dow displays a portion of the image file
that you have loaded into the Imara desk-
top. The page tool's Panview displays a
miniature of the entire page, along with a
shaded rectangular area called the lens.
The area in the lens indicates the specific
portion of the page. By dragging the lens
in the page tool with your mouse, you can
view different parts of your image file in
the page window. Imara also has a pre-
view feature that lets you view an image
without loading and decompressing it.

Imara's I-mail lets you distribute doc-
uments by copying or linking them to
other folders. I-mail is too limited for
general office messaging, however; it
only provides a one-line message field.

Much of Imara's power comes from its
ability to link documents. Linking docu-
ments assigns pointers from a document
to different file folders. This helps con-
serve disk storage and allows users work-
ing within different file folders to view

Harvard Grapliics^
Anrl The HP LaserJet III

Invite You To A
Very Exciting Presentation.

REVIEW

Document Management on Networked PCs

or modify multiple copies of a document.

Imara's use of Group 4 file compres-
sion enables you to store 8'/2-inch by 1 1-
inch 300-dot-per-inch images, which
normally require about 3 MB of storage,
in several hundred kilobytes. But Group
4 compression doesn't work well with
complex images like photographs; in
fact, this type of image may be larger
after compression. But the bottom line,
according to Imara, is that storage costs
using "jukebox" optical drives have
come down to about 5 cents per page-
provided you make the initial investment
in such equipment. This is competitive
with microfilm and paper-based docu-
ment storage systems.

I found that 150-dpi scanned or faxed
images are hard to read on a standard 14-
inch VGA monitor. Using a 1024- by
768-pixel enhanced VGA display or a
1280- by 960-pixel 19-inch Moniterm
display greatly enhances document legi-
bility and obviates the need to print out as
many files. Since Imara currently sup-
ports only monochrome displays and
printers, most users will opt for a large
high-resolution monochrome display.

Imara has written its own OS/2 driver

to support the HP ScanJet Plus, and the
company recommends GammaLink's
GammaFax. (At press time, Gamma-
Link was the only fax-modem supplier
shipping an OS/2 driver.)

Imara's ScanJet interface works flaw-
lessly, but I discovered that Hewlett-
Packard's interface card conflicts with
16-bit VGA cards. (This can be resolved
by plugging 16-bit VGA cards into an 8-
bit slot.) Scanning images requires pa-
tience; most users will eventually be
compelled to invest in an automatic
document feeder for their scanner.

All this power takes its toll in the hard-
ware department. Imara workstations re-
quire at least a 386SX-based PC with 4
MB of RAM, a 30-MB hard disk drive, a
VGA adapter and monitor, a mouse, and
a network adapter running OS/2 1.2 or
higher.

Imara servers require a 386 processor
with at least 8 MB of RAM, a 100-MB
hard disk drive, and a network operating
system that supports OS/2 1.2 with Mi-
crosoft SQL Server 1.1, Oracle Server,
or IBM's Database Manager.

Imara recommends using WORM
(write once, read many times) optical

disk storage, HP LaserJet printers with at
least 2 MB of memory, GammaLink's
GammaFax, a LaserMaster LXI printer
controller (to enable the LaserJet to print
images at a usable speed), and an HP
ScanJet Plus.

Management Decisions

Both Imara and Propound solve real-
world document management problems.
But despite their implementation of ad-
vanced client-server technologies, nei-
ther product lets users manage both text
and image files effectively.

Businesses such as law firms and ac-
counting firms that have standardized on
particular DOS applications like Word-
Perfect or Lotus 1-2-3 should give Pro-
Found careful consideration. Businesses
such as insurance companies managing
many graphics-based documents that in-
clude diagrams, hand- written notes, and
signatures will find Imara invaluable. ■

Doug Dayton is the founder of Dayton
Associates, a computer-industry market-
ing and consulting firm in Bellevue,
Washington. He can be reached on BIX
do "editors. "

Harvard Graphics 2.3 from Software Publishing Corporation brings
new dimensions to presentation graphics. The Hewlett-Packard LaserJet III printer

writes a new chapter in printing history.

Put them together and your presentation becomes a
major event.

Harvard Graphics is packed with easy-to-use new features

that will dazzle your audience— like a gallery of pre-designed

charts and DrawPartner^ an integrated advanced drawing package.

The HP LaserJet III has raised the standard of printing excellence

with HP's exclusive Resolution Enhancement technology. Your graphics will look unusually

sharp — better than ever before.

With Harvard Graphics and the HP LaserJet III, your next presentation is certain to be

well attended. And well received. „ ^ ^ . ^

Circle 31 7 on Reader Service Card

CD^SOFTWARE

Harvard Graphics and DrawPartner are trademarks of Software Publishing Corporacion. HP LaserJet III is a product of Hewlett-Packard.
© 1990 Software Publishing Corporation, 1901 Landings Drive, Mountain View. CA 94039-7210

The Joneses.

Check out the benchmarks. When it
comes to speed, pure and simple, main-
frames are no longer the main attraction
Introducing the Everex STEP 486/33
and STEP 486/25. Along with the STEP
486w, they give you desktop perform-
ance that was previously unheard of

17.857 Dhrystones

There are two reasons. The first, of course, is
the 486™chip.The other is AMMA7 Everex's
proprietary Advanced Memory Management
Architecture.

AMMA uses "write-back" cache technology
instead of the "write-through" technologies used
in most PC's. The write-back cache was developed
for mainframes. Everex was the
pioneer in developing it for the PC.
And in doing so, opened a whole new
dimension in desktop performance.

34.000 Dhrystones (19.4 MfPSI

With AMMA, you can write directly to the
STEP 486's cache in nearly all cases. With write-
through techniques, on the other hand, you lose
most of the performance benefit of the cache.

•Inquiries from outside the US. caU 415-498-1111. EVER for Excellence is a registered trademark and Everex, STEP, STEP 486;s, AMMA and PDS are uademarks ofEveiex Systems, Inc. 486 is a trademark of Intel Corp.

And howto keep up
with them.

That's because write-through forces you to write
to main memory much more often. And main
memory is slower than the cache.

This is especially important in 486 computing,
where the CPU performs as many as four times the
write operations as in 386. Which makes AMMA's
write-back architecture, combined with the 486's
embedded cache, a powerftil combination indeed.

But the STEP 486 machines give you more
than just speed. They come with Programmable
Drive Select. If your drive isn't listed on the set-

up table, PDS™lets you custom-configure the BIOS.
It's good for virtually any hard drive.

What's more, all STEP systems come with a one-
year extendable warranty and a one year renewable
on-site service contract that also covers all Everex
peripherals in the system.

To find out more, caU 1-800-334-4552* for the
name of your nearest Authorized Everex Reseller—
every one a high performance expert.
Then you can let the Joneses try keeping up

for a change.

© 1990 Everex Systems, Inc. For more information on how the above benchmarks were derived, please write the Everex Performance Test Center, 48431 Milmont Drive, Fremont, CA 94538.

Circle 128 on Reader Service Card

HARDWARE

Steve Apiki

REVIEW

Small, Low-Cost UPSes

PC Power 's InnerSource 2210 (left) takes a unique approach to backup power by
offering a UPS as a replacement for a standard supply. Upsonic 's PC Might-25
(right), a single-user UPS, is the smallest, lightest unit BYTE has seen.

Data residing on a single-user system
is not any less critical than data
stowed on a network file server.
But until recently, protecting your sin-
gle-machine installation from the vaga-
ries of your utility company often meant
shelling out the cash for a big, noisy un-
interruptible power supply (UPS) with
more capacity than you required.

Upsonic and PC Power & Cooling of-
fer two solutions to the problem of sup-
plying reliable power to a single ma-
chine. The Upsonic PC Might-25 is a
small, quiet, and inexpensive UPS that's
suitable for use on a desktop. PC Power

PC Might-25

Company

Upsonic Corp.
One Park Plaza, Suite 600
Irvine, CA 92714
(714) 833-7162

Hardware Needed

Microcomputer system
(drawing 250 VA or less)

Price

$195

Inquiry 1106.

& Cooling's InnerSource Model 2210 is
a drop-in replacement for AT power sup-
plies with an internal standby system and
AC power for the monitor.

Strictly speaking, both the PC Might-
25 and the AC side of the InnerSource are
standby power supplies (SPSes). When
utility power fails or dips below a critical
level, they switch from providing power
directly from the line to providing power
from a built-in battery. When there is ad-
equate AC power, they use some of the
available energy to recharge the battery.

While these two models are function-
ally similar, their design philosophies

InnerSource Model 2210

Company

PC Power & Cooling, Inc.
31510 Mountain Way
Bonsall, CA 92003
(619)723-0075

Hardware Needed

AT or 386 computer with space for

a full-size (8%- x 59/0- x 59/10-inch) power

supply

Price

$495

Inquiry 1107.

are radically different. The PC Might-
25, although small and inexpensive, is
more or less a traditional SPS; the Inner-
Source, on the other hand, avoids many
of the problems of providing AC backup
by supplying DC power directly to the
computer.

PC Might-25

At $195, the PC Might-25 is easily the
least expensive SPS I have come across.
The price is low enough to attract people
who may never have considered buying
an SPS in the past. What you get won't
shatter any records for holdup time or
provide the same type of power your sys-
tem's power supply is used to, but it will
provide adequate power for conducting
an orderly shutdown.

The unit is not much bigger than a
large modem or a small external disk
drive. Installation is simple. The nine-
page user's manual is enough to describe
user interaction with the system in suffi-
cient detail.

As you might expect from the unit's
size, holdup time is limited. The PC
Might-25 shuts off before the battery is
completely drained, to lengthen battery
life and shorten recharge time. I mea-
sured holdup time with two loads. The
first was a small 286 system running a
hard disk drive and a monochrome moni-
tor; this system drew 0.8 amperes of cur-
rent, so the power requirement was about
40 percent of the PC Might-25 's capac-
ity. The second load was a larger 486-
with-VGA unit that drew close to twice as
much power. The results are shown in
figure 1 .

When the power goes off, the unit
sounds a noticeable but unobtrusive
alarm. That's its only communication—
since it is meant to back up single sys-
tems, the unit has no ports for sending
signals over a network or to the protected
system for automated shutdown.

Small capacity offers one small ad-
vantage: It takes very little time to re-
charge the unit. Upsonic claims that a
full recharge can be completed in 2 to 3
hours.

I had no problems running systems
during standby operation. The manufac-
turer specifies transfer time (the time to
switch from normal to backup power) at
4 milliseconds, which should be quick
enough to escape the computer's notice.
Cut-in and cut-out points are fixed at 102
volts and 108 V, respectively, so if you
experience frequent brownouts, the sys-
tem may go on and off more than you
would like.

Backup power has a modified square
waveform. Engineers argue over whether

258 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

8 Parallel and 2 Serial Ports
Now Available With Nezv SL

s from

New Model - SLP has 8 parallel and 2 serial ports: The

original SL™has 4 parallel and 6 serial ports. Both can
share any combination of ten printers or PCs; automatic
switching, queuing, and serial-to-parallel conversion

Improved Data Throughput-True 115,200 bps: use other

vendors' file transfer software with serial connected PCs

Pop-up Menu via Hotkeys: Keyboard selection of printers

Simple Installation: just plug in your cables and run the
menu-driven installation software

User Upgradable Memory: From 256KB to 4MB buffer

PC

K.

PC

LASER

1 PRINTER 1

MINI

1 MAC 1 1 LAN 1

1

■ MODEM

HWP

5 Ports from $275 SPPS

Converter $100

Save by Sharing Resources: The SL enables everyone

to share lasers, printers, plotters, and modems. Greater
access by more users reduces unproductive idle time
and the expense of purchasing additional peripherals.
All users can simultaneously send print data and
quickly release their PCs to continue working.

BUFFALO

45 Day Money Back Guarantee

CALL TODAY (800) 345-2356

Fax (503) 585-4505

Buffalo Products, Inc. 2805 19th St. SE, Salem, OR 97302-1520
Circle 399 on Reader Service Card

All ports are parallel and user
configurable as either 3 inputs
to 2 outputs with a pop-up
menu, or 4 inputs to 1 output
as a buffered auto-switch;
memory is user upgradable
ft-om 256KB to 16MB buffer

Combination serial-to-parallel,
or paraUel-to-serial interface
converter in a single unit, no
power supply needed, serial
transfers to 115,200 bps, DIP
switch configurable

AS-41

5 Ports $200

RCJ

Toshiba Memory Module

4 parallel inputs to 1 parallel
output, automatic switch with
no buffer; use the AS-31 for up
to 3 inputs to 1 output, $175

Memory expansion module
for the Toshiba TIOOOSE,
TIOOOXE, or J3100SS laptop
(notebook) computer,
1MB - S299, 2MB - S549

CE

2 Ports from $175 Cables & Adapters

Printer buffer with 1 parallel
input to 1 parallel output, from
256KB to 4MB buffer

High quality, 24 gauge
shielded cables, parallel or
serial; modular cable adapters

REVIEW'

Small, Low-Cost upses

MEASURED HOLDUP TIMES

InnerSource 221 0

PC Might-25

< Worse

Better ►

I I Small load

5 10 15

Time (minutes)

20

Large load

Figure 1: Holdup times for typical small and large loads, in minutes.

AC

HOW THE INNERSOURCE 2210 WORKS

Rectifier

Charger

Battery

Inverter

Transfer
switch!

DC-to-DC
conversion

DC out

AC out

Figure 2: Block diagram of the InnerSource 2210 power supply. The output of the
battery is wired to the DC-to-DC converter, which means that no DC switching is
required when power fails.

or not square waves make a good input to
switching power supplies, but the PC
Might-25 provides output filtering to
eliminate much of the noise associated
with square- wave outputs.

The InnerSource

A traditional SPS takes in AC power,
converts it to DC power, and stores it in a
battery. When a blackout occurs, the unit
takes DC power from the battery, trans-
forms it to AC power, and sends it to the
power supply in the computer, which
transforms it to DC power for use in the
system. For those of you keeping score,
that's three conversions where only one
is required, and each conversion means
less efficient use of power.

PC Power & Cooling's InnerSource
eliminates most of the extra steps. The

InnerSource looks (and acts, under nor-
mal conditions) like a standard, FCC
Class B, full-size AT power supply. It re-
places the power supply unit in the ma-
chine that you intend to protect. When
the power fails, the unit supplies DC
power from the battery directly to the
system board (see figure 2). There is no
need for additional conversion.

In addition to having a clean and effi-
cient design, the InnerSource sidesteps
debates over which waveform is best and
how much noise an AC inverter intro-
duces. Since the battery and rectifier are
connected to the same transformer, PC
Power & Cooling also claims zero trans-
fer time between standby and normal
operation.

If you didn't need to power a monitor
during a blackout, this would be the end

of the story. Since you do, the Inner-
Source provides a standard battery-in-
verter stage for supplying AC power to
the system monitor. This is a typical
standby system, with a rated transfer time
of 2 ms and a 120-V root mean square
modified rectangular-wave output.

Holdup times, shown in figure 1 , were
good — certainly enough to save work and
shut down properly. Like the PC Might-
25, the InnerSource sounds an alarm at
power failure and shuts down before the
battery is completely drained. This unit
requires 8 hours for a full recharge, but it
recharges constantly as long as the sys-
tem is plugged in.

Classifying the power output of the
InnerSource is not as easy as it is with
that of an external SPS. The unit supplies
220 watts of DC power to the system
board and 120 volt-amperes of AC power
to the monitor. With efficiency and
power-factor calculations considered,
PC Power & Cooling claims that the In-
nerSource is equivalent to a 550- VA ex-
ternal UPS; in any case, 220 W is enough
to run a heavily stocked AT or 386 sys-
tem with no problems.

The 120-VA (1-amp) AC source, how-
ever, is a little underpowered. Typical
VGA monitors require just about all of
this; an IBM 8513, for example, requires
0.95 amp. Big-screen monitors can eas-
ily require 1.2 amp and may require 1.6
amp; the power draw means you can't
use the InnerSource with a typical 19- or
20-inch monitor.

If you want to run a network server off
the InnerSource, PC Power & Cooling
offers a $49 module that lets the Inner-
Source talk to a network.

The InnerSource has a few weak
spots, but these have to do with the na-
ture of the device. It requires enough
room inside the case for a full-size sup-
ply and, of course, will work only with
IBM PC-compatible machines. If a
power failure should occur, you'll need
to replace the entire unit; with an exter-
nal system, you need replace only the
UPS or the internal supply. And at S495,
replacements aren't cheap. Fortunately,
PC Power & Cooling has an excellent
reputation for reliability.

Between the PC Might-25 and the In-
nerSource, you should be able to find
what you need to back up a single system.
Whether you prefer the traditional exter-
nal device or the drop-in replacement
concept, the peace of mind you'll get is
worth the small investment. ■

Steve Apiki is a BYTE Lab testing editor/
engineer. He can be reached on BIX as
"apiki. "

260 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

The best got better,

SYSTAT 5.0's new menus make the top-rated
statistical program even easier to use.

UMFO

/ 1 ^y.^lTll 1 \

EDTTOKS
CHOICE

— BCBTIN —

rra CLASS

3-14-S9

V 4.1

(UIJWEEK)

\^

SYSTAT is the on/y package
to receive these three awards

New Features Menus or commands — your choice Rewritten
documentation includes statistics tutorials Fast, built-in drivers for
SYGRAPH Global mapping and many new plots Multi way repeated
measures Means model for missing cells designs Post-hoc tests
Interactive stepwise regression.

Statistics Basic statistics, frequencies, (-tests, post-hoc tests

Multi way crosstabs with log-linear modeling, association
coefficients, PRE statistics, Mantel-Haenszel, asymptotic standard
errors Nonparametric statistics (sign, runs, Wilcoxon. Kruskal-
Wallis, Friedman two-way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U, Kolmogorov-
Smirnov, Lilliefors, Kendall coefficient of concordance^ Pairwise/
listwise deletion of missing values, Pearson correlation, SSCP,
covariance. Spearman, Gamma, Kendall Tau. Euclidean distances,
binary similarities Linear, polynomial, multiple, stepwise, weighted
regression with extended diagnostics Multivariate general linear
model includes multi way ANOVA. ANCOVA, MANOVA. repeated
measures, canonical correlation Principal components, factor
analysis, rotations, components scores Multidimensional scaling
Multiple and canonical discriminant analysis, Bayesian classification
Cluster analysis [hierarchical, single, average, complete, median,
centroid linkage, k-means. cases, variables} Time series Csmoothers,
exponential smoothing, seasonal and nonseasonal ARIMA, ACE,
PACE, CCF, transformations, Fourier analysis] Nonlinear estimation
[nonlinear regression, maximum likelihood estimation, and more].

Graphics Overiay plots Drivers for most graphics devices
Two-dimensional: £noT bars Scatterplots Line and vector graphs
Vector, dot, bubble and quantile plots Bar graphs [single, multiple,
stacked, range] Box plots [single and grouped] Stem-and-leaf
diagrams Linear, quadratic, step, spline, polynomial, LOWESS,
exponential smoothing Confidence intervals and ellipses [any alpha
value] Smooth mathematical functions Rectangular or polar
coordinates Log and power scales ANOVA interaction plots
Histograms [regular, cumulative, fuzzy] Stripe and jitter plots
Gaussian histogram smoothing Scatterplot matrices Voronoi

tesselations Minimum spanning tree Maps with geographic
projections (U.S. state boundary file included, county and world
boundary files available] Chernoff faces Star plots Fourier plots
Pie charts Contour plots on regulariy and irregulariy spaced points
Control charts and limits Three-dimensional: Data p\ots Smooth
function plots Vector plots Linear, quadratic, spline, least squares
surface smoothing Typefaces that print in perspective.

Data Management import/export Lotus. dBase, and DIE
files Full screen data editor Full screen text editor Unlimited
cases Missing data, arrays, character variables Capability to
process hierarchical, rectangular or triangular files, irregular length
records Character, numeric, and nested sorts Merge and append
large files Unlimited numeric and character variable transformations
Subgroup processing with SELECT and BY Value labels and RECODE
statements Macro processor with programming language, screen
control, file manipulation, applications generation, and report writing.

SYSTAT operates on IBM PC's- and compatibles. MS-DOS?
VAX^/Microvax and Macintosh? Site licenses, quantity prices and
training seminars available. No fees for technical support.

SYSTAT

SYSTAT. Intelligent software.

For more information call or write: SYSTAT, Inc. 1800 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60201-3793 Tel: 708.864.5670 Fax: 708.492.3567
For international representatives call: Australia 61.3.4974755. Canada 416.424.1700. Finland 358.0.6923800. France 33.1.40935000,
Germany 49.61.265950, Italy 39.587.213640. Japan 81.3.5902311, New Zealand 64.71.562675. Norway 47.3.892240. Sweden 46.8.110620,
Switzerland 41.31.416611, The Netherlands 31.3402.66336, UK: Letchwort;h 44.462.482822, London 44.81.6926636. London SE 44.0753.841686

Circle 333 on Reader Service Card

Michael Nadeau

REVIEW

TravelMate 2000 Lives Up to Its Name

The Texas
Instruments
TravelMate 2000
packs AT-class
performance into
a 4-pound
notebook PC.

TravelMate 2000

Company

Texas Instruments
P.O. Box 202230
Austin, TX 78720
(800) 527-3500

Components (as reviewed)

Processor: 12-MH2 80C286; socket for
80C287 math coprocessor
Memory: 1 MB of RAM; 1 MB of ROM
for MS-DOS 4.01 and utilities
Mass storage: 2y2-inch 23-ms 20-MB
Conner Peripherals hard disk drive
Display: 10-inch-diagonal 640- by 480-
pixel VGA; backlit triple supertwist LCD
Keyboard: 79-key IBM Enhanced style
I/O interfaces: One parallel port; one
serial port; one proprietary external
expansion bus

Size

11 X 81/2 X 1 % inches; 42/5 pounds
{with battery)

Price

$3995

Inquiry 1078.

There's something about the Texas
Instruments (TI) TravelMate 2000
notebook PC that says, "Take me
with you." Its size (1 1 by SVi by 1% inch-
es) and weight (4% pounds with battery)
are big factors in creating that impres-
sion. So are its 640- by 480-pixel VGA
display, internal 20-megabyte hard disk
drive, and 12-MHz 80C286 CPU. To-
gether, these features make for what is
arguably the most totable AT-class note-
book system available.

The TravelMate 2000 has its flaws.
The battery life is sub-par: 2 hours at
best (an optional battery pack adds 3
hours to the running time, ly^ inches to
the length, and about 2 pounds to the
unit's weight). A floppy disk drive is
available only as an external option.
Some people might find the keyboard un-
comfortable to use; the keyboard pre-
sents no typing angle to speak of, and it's
set back about an inch from the front of
the unit. And with a price of $3995, the
TravelMate is also expensive.

On the plus side, the TravelMate pro-
vides performance, VGA, and conve-
nience. These benefits compensate for
the drawbacks if portability is the main
issue.

What You Get

TI sells the standard TravelMate with 1
MB of internal RAM (expandable to 3

MB with two 1-MB RAM cards), a 2'A-
inch 23-millisecond 20-MB hard disk
drive, one serial and one parallel port,
the triple supertwist VGA LCD screen
with 16 gray levels, and an AC adapter.
MS-DOS 4.01, LapLink, and the system
utilities reside on 1 MB of ROM. This all
fits easily into any briefcase, with room
left for other essentials.

When you turn on the TravelMate, you
are greeted by Laptop Manager, a DOS
shell. Laptop Manager comes set up to
run the system utilities from a menu;
adding applications to the menu is a sim-
ple matter of answering a few prompts. If
you get stuck, pressing Fl brings up a
help screen.

The system utilities include Traveling
Software's ubiquitous LapLink file
transfer program (cables are included
with the TravelMate) and Battery Watch,
which monitors battery drain. Both pro-
grams are well-regarded, time-tested
utilities.

TI pairs Battery Watch with its Bat-
tery Pro power-conservation software.
BatteryPro is what TI terms a "power
conservation system." Basically, it mon-
itors the notebook's components— hard
disk drive, display, and keyboard— and
shuts them down when they're not used
for a specific amount of time. It puts the
whole system in standby mode after a pe-
riod of inactivity, and it automatically

selects CPU speed for your applications.
(The slower you run the CPU, the less
drain on the battery.) It also has a RAM-
based hard disk cache to minimize ac-
cesses. Power utilities of this ilk are be-
coming common on many notebook PCs.

Despite BatteryPro 's energy-saving
features, the TravelMate manages only 2
hours of running time on a charge. This
is undoubtedly because TI shaved size
and capacity from the battery to reach
size and weight goals.

File Manager, another Laptop Man-
ager utility, is exactly what its name im-
plies; you can edit, execute, copy, delete,
find, and so on. File Manager is simple
and does the job, but it's no Norton Com-
mander. For instance, if you want to find
a file, you must already be in the direc-
tory in which it resides.

Options You Will Need

If you spend $4000 for a 4-pound AT-
compatible system, you will probably
want all the benefits of the 12-MHz pro-
cessor along with its convenience. Well,
you can have them, but at the cost of a
few more dollars and a little of that con-
venience.

For starters, you need a modem (it's
about time modems became standard
equipment on all notebook PCs) and at
least another megabyte of memory to run
the latest software. Add $499 and $549,

262 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

486 Engineering Workstation

386- 33MHz

$2,995

Super VGA!

80486-25MHZCPU
4MB RAM
128K Cache
1.2MB 5.25" floppy drive
1.44MB 3.5' floppy drive
150MB ESDI hard drive
16-bit VGA card W/512K
Super VGA color monitor
(1024x768)

2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game
ports

101 Enhanced keyboard
MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01
Two year warranty*

$4,595

386/33l\/lHz Corporate Workstation

80386-33MHzCPU
4MB RAM
64K Cache
1.2MB 5.25" drive
1.44MB 3.5- drive
100MB IDE hard disk drive
16-bit VGA cardw/512K
Super VGA color monitor
(1024x768)

2 serial, 1 parallel 8c 1 game
ports

101 Enhanced keyboard
MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01
Two year warranty*

$2,995

386/25l\/lHz Business System

80386-25MHzCPU
4MB RAM
64K Cache

1 .2MB 5.25" floppy drive
1 .44MB 3.5" floppy drive
100MB IDE hard drive
16-bit VGA cardw/512K
Super VGA color monitor
(1024x768)

2 serial, 1 pjarollel &. 1 game
ports

101 Enhonced keyboard
MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01
Two year warranty*

$2,795

386/20MHZ Pro-Systerm

80386-20MHZCPU
4MB RAM

1,2MB 5.25" floppy drive
1.44MB 3.5' floppy drive
65MB hard drive
16-bit VGA cardw/512K
Super VGA color monitor
(1024x768)

2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game
ports

101 Enhanced keyboard
MS-DOS 3.3 or 4,01
Two year warranty*

'If you're looking to buy a computer by moil order but still want a
company that will stand behind what is sells, the ACMA 386/25 is
a good bet." "Among PCs reviewed this issue, our favorite is the
ACMA 386/25." "Choose the ACMA 386/20 for better-than-
average construction quality. "<i i/28 & 12/26 raw

"The Acma 386SX is highly expandable, performs well,
and offers a very complete system for an excellent
price. ..Acma offers one of the best service policies in the
mail-order business." "The Acma system not only looks
good, it's a good performer... it performed consistently above average."

(Moy/June 1990)

CDMfUTER

the machine could reliably handle everything I piled
onto it.' "The systems from ACMA Computer, Inc. inspire

$2,395

■■—i^l'^l—lr-'-iri confidence.' "Clearly, ACMA intends to be competitive
not only in terms of system bang for the buck, but also in the realm of
intangibles like technical support and product warranty." (Apni & juiy 1990)

386SX Executive System

800-456-8809

80386/SX-16MHZCPU
1MB RAM

1 .2MB 5.25" floppy drive
1 .44MB 3.5" floppy drive
65MB hard drive
16-bit VGA cardw/512K
Super VGA color monitor
(1024x768)

2 serial, 1 parallel & 1 game
ports

101 Enhanced keyboard
MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01
Two year warranty*

$ 1 ,995

Hearing Impaired TDD 800-456-8901

^^COMPUTERS, INCJI^

>1cmcl

»MEBI{»Nl
■EKBBE55

Ask Us About On-Site Service!

All computers are covered by a 'two year labor
and one year ports worranty and a 45-Dav
"Money-Back" guarontee. We accept VISA.
Master Card, American Express. Discover Cord,
C.O.D., approved POs, and persorxal ctiecks
(aBow 7 days to clear). Ail prices and specifica-
tkxis ore subject to chortge wtttxxjt rKitice. CoB
Acma for current specificofior^. pricing, payment,
shipping, wafranly. leosir>g and return policies.
"45-Day Money-Bock guorantee covers Acnria
brand computers only (shtpplng not rcluded).
Software, printers, monitors and shipping ore not
refundable. Non-Acma brand products are
covered by tt>eirmanufocturers worranty. We ere
not responsible for errors in typogrophy, photog-
raphy, or of omission. Acma reserves ihe fight to
substitute equivalent ports. Brand rxjmes ore
regtetered trademarks of their respective com-
panies. 386 and 486 are registered trademarks of
Intel Corporation. Acme Computers Inc.. 117
FoiJier Ave.. Frenx>nt, CA 94539 (415) 623-1212
Corp.. (415) 623-0818Fax

Our Best Starter Package Ever!

H Printer stand
H Ten diskettes
H Computer paper
■ MS-DOS 3.3 or 4.01
H Choice of software
H User's guide
H Surge protector

$ 1 ,495

286/12 computer
1MB RAM
1.2MB or 1.44MB
floppy drive
40MB hard drive
Monochrome
monitor

101 key keyboard
Panasonic 1 180
printer & cable

Circle 12 on Reader Service Card

REVIEW

TravelMate 2000 Lives Up to Its Name

< Worse

TravelMate 2000

Compaq Deskpro 386/20
IBM PC AT

1.6

DOS BENCHMARKS

APPLICATION-LEVEL PERFORMANCE !

Better ►

N/A

23.6
7.0

Word

Processing

j j Desktop

Publishing

□

□

Compilers

I I Scientific/

Engineering Spreadsheet

< Worse

LOW-LEVEL PERFORMANCE

Better ►

TravelMate 2000

Compaq Deskpro 386/20
IBM PC AT

1.5 2.0

4.6

n CPU n FPU n

CONVENTIONAL BENCHMARKS

LINPACK

Dhrystones

(single)

(Ohry-/sec.)

(MFLOPS)

Tl TravelMate 2000 0.3397

3474.7

Compaq 386/20 0.16970

8449.7

IBM PC AT 0.02105

2317.9

For application and low-level benchmarks, results are indexed and show relative performance; for each
individual index, an 8-MHz IBM PC AT running MS-DOS 3.30 = 1 .

The BYTE low-level benchmark suite identifies performance differences iDetween machines at the hardware
level; the application benchmarks evaluate real-world performance by running a standard test suite using
commercially available applications. Application indexes include tests using the following programs: Word
processing: WordPerfect 5.0; Desktop Publishing: Aldus PageMaker 3.0; Database: Borland Paradox 3.0 and
Ashton-Tate dBASE IV; Compilers: Microsoft C 5.1 and Turbo Pascal 5.5; CAD: AutoCAD release 10 and
Generic CADD level 3 1.1.5: Scientific/Engineering: State release 2, MathCAD 2.5. and PC-Matlab 3.5f; and
Spreadsheet: Lotus 1-2-3 release 3.0 and Microsoft Excel 2.1 .

The BYTE Lab introduced version 2.0 of the DOS benchmarks in the August issue (see "BYTE's New
Benchmarks: New Looks. New Numbers"). Benchmark results for machines reviewed under previous
versions aren't directly comparable. To obtain a copy of the benchmarks, join the listings area of the
byte.bmarks conference on BIX or contact BYTE directly.

respectively. If you use Windows or an-
other graphical user interface, you will
want the full 3 MB. And you will want
the second battery pack ($249), or at
least a spare internal battery ($129) . Two
hours is barely enough under the best cir-
cumstances. I got between 1 V2 and a little
under 2 hours.

These options push your capital invest-
ment to over $5000. You also end up with
about lYi pounds more than the 5 pounds
(with AC adapter) that you were already
carrying. With the added paraphernalia,
you also might have to make more room
in your briefcase.

Other Observations

Although I complained about it earlier, I
find the TravelMate's keyboard accept-
able in light of what TI is trying to ac-
complish. It felt comfortable, and I had
little trouble adjusting to it.

Cradling it in your arm, the Travel-
Mate has a solid feel. It runs quietly; I
did not experience the high-pitched
whine some LCDs emit. I did notice

something about the construction that
troubled me: When you open the screen,
the tension from the hinge flexes the
plastic above the keyboard more than I'm
comfortable with. I don't think this will
affect the electronics, but I do worry
about stress cracks developing in the
case.

On the BYTE benchmarks, the Travel-
Mate turned in scores that, while not
startling, were at least respectable— par-
ticularly in the disk and video tests. Un-
fortunately, the BYTE Lab could not get
a cumulative application index, as the
notebook's memory configuration was
inadequate for running some of the soft-
ware used in that test suite. My evalua-
tion unit was not equipped with a math
coprocessor.

The black-on-white VGA screen has
good contrast, and the light seems well
diffused. A switch lets you reverse the
video to white-on-black, and the contrast
and brightness controls have adequate
range. A pop-up utility lets you adjust the
gray scaling.

The Verdict

TI has quite an accomplishment in the
TravelMate. For many people, it is in-
complete in its standard form, but no
other computer offers so much in just 4
pounds. (The Sharp 6220 is the same
computer with only cosmetic differences
and no utility software. TI makes it and
similar notebook PCs under OEM ar-
rangements. The TravelMate was actu-
ally a joint design project with Sharp.)

The TravelMate is a charmer, warts
notwithstanding, and that charm is pro-
portional to the weight of the portable
you are currently lugging around. The
ultimate portable is one that you don't
notice carrying and that performs com-
parably to your desktop system. The
TravelMate is as close as you can get to
that ultimate portable. TI sacrificed
some functionality to get there, but the
trade-offs are reasonable. ■

Michael Nadeau is the managing editor
of the BYTE Lab. You can reach him on
BIX as "miken. "

264 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Our VT240 terminal emulator has
changed the meaning of portability.

I

KEA Systems Ltd

What does VT240 portability mean to you?

• Portable across operating systems! OurZSTEM240
software runs under both MS-DOS and Unix 386 System Y
making your PC look and act hke a VT240/340 terminal
on either operating system.

• Portable across machines! ZSTEM 240 runs on IBM PCs, XTs,
ATs, PS/2s and compatibles, from AT&Ts to Zeniths!

• Portable across portables! ZSTEM 240 runs on portable
PCs, letting you connect to your office systems when
you're on the road.

• Portable across video adapters! ZSTEM 240 supports
all standard video adapters: VGA, EGA, CGA, MCGA,
AT&T, Hercules and many extended adapters. No matter
what adapter/monitor combination you use, ZSTEM 240
displays double-high/double-wide characters, 132 columns.

and VT340 ReGIS, sixel and Tektronix graphics.
• Portable across networks! ZSTEM 240 connects to your

favorite networks, including Novell, 3COM, TCP/IP,

Ungermann-Bass, Excelan, Wollongong, FTP, Sun and

DEC'S CTERM and LAT.
Of course, ZSTEM doesn't really come with a handle. What it
does come with is our top-notch technical support and
documentation, plus a solid warranty so you can be assured
of quality products backed by quality people. Call today
about our complete line of VT emulation products.

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FAX: (604) 431-0818

ZSTEM and the KEA and ZSTEM logos are trademarks of KEA Systems Ltd. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

©Copyright KEA Systems Ltd.. 1989. All rights reserved.

Circle 194 on Reader Service Card

HARDWARE

Stan Miastkowski

REVIEW

Pricey Hard Disk Drive Portability

The Disctec 20,
shown here with
its docking
bracket, measures
just 3.2 by .81 by
5 inches and
weighs only 7
ounces.

The Disctec 20 shows how far we've
come from the clunky, noisy, and
notoriously short-lived full-height
hard disk drives that were the only game
in town during the early days of the PC
revolution. The Disctec 20 is a 20-mega-
byte removable hard disk drive that's
packaged in a neat little nylon-covered
case measuring just 3.2 by .81 by 5 inch-
es. It weighs a scant 7 ounces.

You might describe the Disctec 20 as a
thick floppy disk. It's designed to be in-
terchanged with a wide variety of PC-
compatible computer systems by means
of a "docking bracket" and a controller.
The standard docking bracket requires a
half-height bay in your system. (An ex-
ternal docking bracket would be handy,

Disctec 20
Company

147 West Lyman Ave., Suite 200
P.O. Box 1750
Winter Park, FL 32789
(407) 645-0001

Hardware Needed

IBM PC, AT, a compatible or Toshiba T1 200

Software Needed

MS-DOS or PC-DOS

Price

XT version, $670; AT version, $695;
drive-only version, $640; Toshiba T1 200
version, $680; additional cartridge,
$595; additional docking bracket, $50;
additional controller, $100

Inquiry 1060.

but it isn't available at this time.) The
unit uses a half-length add-in card that
contains an Intelligent Drive Electronics
interface. Cards are available in both 8-
and 16-bit versions for PCs and ATs (and
compatibles), respectively. The 8-bit
card supports a single Disctec 20; the 16-
bit card supports two. If you have an IDE
interface in your system, you can buy just
the cartridge and the docking bracket.

Disctec also offers a custom combina-
tion docking bracket/interface card for
the Toshiba T1200's expansion slot. Ac-
cording to the company, more custom
versions are in the works for other popu-
lar laptop systems.

The case is well sealed and houses one
of the new-generation 2V2-inch hard disk
drives. The company claims it will take a
150-g jolt without damage.

For Your Eyes Only

The idea of a portable, removable hard
disk drive isn't a new one (Tandon did it
years ago), but Disctec is the first com-
pany to make it truly handy. The disk
cartridge itself is small and light enough
to toss into your briefcase at the end of
the day and bring home to another com-
puter equipped with a docking bracket.
Even better is the ability to easily tote
your work along on the road with a Disc-
tec 20 in a laptop. And of course, you
can't overlook the security aspect. If you
lock up your Disctec cartridge or (even
better) take it along, your data is abso-
lutely secure from prying eyes. And if
you use the Disctec 20 as your boot de-
vice, your computer's even more secure.

Installing the Disctec 20 isn't compli-
cated. I installed mine in a 20-MHz 386
system in two different configurations:
as the primary (boot) drive and as a sec-
ondary hard disk drive. The Disctec con-

troller also has a floppy disk drive inter-
face, so it can be the only disk drive
controller in your system. When I in-
stalled it as the secondary controller, I
had to play with jumpers on the board,
disabling the floppy disk drive controller
and setting the memory location for the
board so it wouldn't conflict with the pri-
mary controller.

Consistent Performer

The Disctec 20 requires special driver
software, called from your DOS CON-
FIG.SYS file. Unfortunately, that pre-
cludes its use with alternative operating
systems, such as OS/2. The software
comes with its own well-designed auto-
matic installation utility. That's where I
initially ran into trouble. After installa-
tion, the Disctec 20 was flaky, and disk-
performance utilities such as Norton
Utilities refused to recognize it. A quick
call to Disctec got me an updated version
of the driver, and I didn't have any addi-
tional problems after that.

The installation utility lets you choose
among several options, including wheth-
er you hear a beep when you change car-
tridges. And if you're using the Disctec
20 in a laptop, you can choose the time
before the drive goes into a "spin-down"
mode to conserve battery power. There's
also a power-save mode where the disk
keeps spinning but the support circuits
are powered off. In spin-down mode, it
takes about 2 seconds for the drive to get
back up to speed. In power-save mode,
recovery takes a short V,o second. Even
without the power-conserving modes,
the Disctec 20 pulls just 1 watt of power.

No slouch at performance, the Disctec
20 has an average access time of 23 milli-
seconds, according to the company. The
unit I tested did better, consistently scor-
ing in the 19- to 20-ms range. Data trans-
fer is a respectable 500 megabits per sec-
ond. There is no performance penalty in
using the Disctec 20. In fact, it was con-
siderably faster than my primary drive.

The Disctec 20 is well built and handy.
But you'll pay a large premium for conve-
nience. The interface, docking bracket,
and a cartridge retail for $670 to $695,
depending on the system you want to in-
stall it in. Additional drive cartridges
sell for $595; additional docking brack-
ets are $50. For a 20-MB drive, that's ex-
pensive. But to be fair, new technology
is always initially exorbitant. If you want
or need true data portability and secur-
ity, the Disctec 20 is a logical choice. ■

Stan Miastkowski is a BYTE senior news
editor. He can be contacted on BIX as
"stanm. "

266 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

\

If ^u*re Driven by Success,
*1 Make Svire If s a Quality Drive^

To be successful in today's business environment, you
need drive, determination and commitment. You also need
the right products supporting you— keeping things running
smoothly, on track and on schedule. Products that consistently
meet operating specifications, and provide the dependability
you can rely on. Products such as Mitsubishi disk drives.

Just like you, Mitsubishi Electronics is also driven by
success. We manufacture the latest in memory storage technol-
ogy, and offer one of the broadest ranges of flexible drives in
the industry today. Whatever your memory requirements,
Mitsubishi has the drive you need— from 720 KB and 1.44 MB
3.5" models to 360 KB and 1.2 MB 5.25" models, with a vari-
ety of mounting and bezel configurations.

As one of the largest suppliers of flexible
disk drives in the world, Mitsubishi®
continues to earn its reputation for
product quality and
design innovation.

Mitsubishi also manufactures rigid disk drives that have
the same incomparable dependability as the flexible drives.
Every 5.25" rigid drive supports the high-density mode of the
newer (RLL) controllers, with up to 65 MB formatted memory,
as well as the standard-density mode of the (MFM) controllers
used in today's most popular systems, with up to 42 MB for-
matted memory.

So when you're looking for reliable, high capacity disk
drives, look to Mitsubishi. We'll make sure you get a qual-
ity drive.

For the authorized Mitsubishi reseller nearest you, call
1-800-556-1234, ext. 54 in the US. and Canada (in California
1-800441-2345, ext. 54).

MITSUBISHI
ELECTRONICS

See us al

;OffliDIH/Fair90

November 12-16, 1990
Las Vegas, Nevada
Booth 1216

Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc., Information Systems Division, 991 Knox Street, Torrance, CA 90502.
Mitsubishi Electric Sales Canada, Inc., 8885 Woodbine Avenue, Ontario L3R 5GL
© 1989 Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc. Mitsubishi is a registered trademark of Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Tokyo. Image courtesy of Software Publishing Corp.

Circle 231 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 232)

REVIEWER'S NOTEBOOK

Reviewer's Notebook provides new information— including version updates,
new test data, long-term usage reports, and reader feedback— on products
previously reviewed in BYTE.

ALR Pumps Up PowerFlex

ALR has added
the PowerFlex
20CSX, a
Windows-ready
20-MHz 386SX PC,
to its popular
PowerFlex line.

Reviewed in the June issue, the 286-
based ALR PowerFlex and its up-
gradable architecture provides a
cost-effective means of keeping your
DOS-based system current with the de-
mands of your applications. Advanced
Logic Research recently introduced a
new PowerFlex model, the 20CSX,
which begins life as a 20-MHz 386SX-
based PC and is upgradable to a 25-MHz
486. Like the earlier version, the 20CSX
is relatively inexpensive and well made.
The two systems also share the same 16-
bit bus architecture, which forces you to
pay a performance penalty when using
the 32-bit i486 CPU.

The 20CSX does not replace the earli-
er PowerFlex. It is a midrange model that
ALR is aiming at users of graphical in-
terfaces such as Windows, and its config-
uration reflects that. The Model 1 10 that
ALR sent to BYTE comes standard with
3 megabytes of RAM, an 800- by 600-
pixel Super VGA card, a 25-millisecond
106-MB hard disk drive with an Intelli-
gent Drive Electronics controller, and a

two-button mouse. It also sports a 32K-
byte static RAM cache. In all other as-
pects, the 20CSX is the same machine as
the original PowerFlex (see "Two to
Grow On," June BYTE).

Good Performer

The BYTE Lab benchmarked the Power-
Flex 20CSX in its 386SX mode. Bench-
mark indexes for the 486 version should
be similar to those achieved by the origi-
nal PowerFlex. As the graph shows, the
20CSX performs comparably to the
Compaq Deskpro 386s/20 in both the
low-level and application suites; the ma-
jor difference is the ALR's significantly
better CPU index: 2.49 versus the Com-
paq's 1.76.

Windows 3.0 is crisp in both its ap-
pearance and its performance on the
20CSX. The Super VGA video with the
ALR FlexView 2X Super VGA monitor
eliminates the fuzziness sometimes ex-
perienced with lesser graphics systems. I
experienced no compatibility problems
with the ALR system.

PowerFlex 20CSX Model 110
Company

Advanced Logic Research, Inc.
9401 Jeronimo
Irvine, CA 92718
(714)581-6770

Components (as tested)

Processor: 20-MHz 386SX; 20-MHz
80387SX FPU

Memory: 3 MB of 80-ns DRAM,
expandable to 5 MB on motherboard and
to 16 MB total; 32K-byte static RAM
cache

Mass storage: 3y2-inch 1 .44-MB Teac

floppy disk drive; 106-MB 25-ms 3y2-inch

Toshiba IDE hard disk drive

Display: ALR 800- by 600-pixel Super

VGA controller with ALR FlexView 2X

Super VGA monitor

Keyboard: 101 -key modified IBM

Enhanced AT layout

I/O Interfaces: One serial, one parallel,

and one mouse port; one 8-bit and five

16-bit ISA expansion slots (five open)

Price

$4008

Inquiry 1075.

Like the original FlexCache system,
the 20CSX is ruggedly constructed. The
case fits correctly and is easy to remove
and replace, and the motherboard is
firmly mounted. Installing add-in cards
flexes the electronics very little. I found
no last-minute engineering modifica-
tions in the system.

One for the Budget-Conscious

Among all the 20-MHz 386SX systems
BYTE has reviewed, the 20CSX is a
standout. It is one of the best performers,
comes Windows-ready, and provides a
means of increasing the horsepower as
needed. It's also among the lowest priced
at $3349 (without the math coprocessor).

Its biggest drawback is still its 16-bit
bus, which prevents the system from tak-
ing full advantage of the i486. As the de-
mands of your applications increase, you
just might need all of that i486. Nonethe-
less, the PowerFlex 20CSX is an attrac-
tive starting platform for the business
user or professional moving to Windows.

— Michael Nadeau

268 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

DOS BENCHMARKS

Woi:..'

APPLICATION-LEVEL PERFORMANCES

ALR PowerFlex 20CSX

Compaq Deskpro 386/20
Compaq Deskpro 386s/20
IBM PC AT

2.2

2.6

2.5

2.8

3.9

4.3

3.2

Belter ►

21.5

23.6
21.4
7.0

□

Word r~j Desktop | | I |
Processing I 1 Publishing | j Database I I Compilers

□

CAD

Scientific/
Engineering

Wotse j

LOW-LEVEL PERFORMANCE

Spreadsheet

Better ►

ALR PowerFlex 20CSX

Compaq Deskpro 386/20
Compaq Deskpro 386s/20
IBM PC AT

2.5

6.6

2.5 '

□ cPu □

For application and low-level berchmarks. results are indexed and show relative
perfamance; for each individual index, an 8-MHz IBM PC AT running MS-DOS 3.30 =
all benchmarks, higher numbers indicate better performance.

.For

The BYTE low-level benchmark suite identifies performance differences between machines
at the hardware level; the application benchmarks evaluate real-world performance by
running a standard test suite using commercially available applications. Application
indexes include tests using the following programs: Word Processing: WordPerfect 5.0;
Desktop Publishing: Aldus PageMaker 3.0; Database: Borland Paradox 3.0 and Ashton-

Tate dBASE IV; Compilers: Microsoft C 5.1 and Borland Turbo Pascal 5.5; CAD: AutoCAD
release 10 and Generic CADD level 3 1 .1 .5: Scientific/Engineering: Stata release 2.
MathCAD 2.5. and PC-Matlab 3.5f; and Spreadsheet: Lotus 1-2-3 release 3.0 and Microsoft
Excel 2.1.

For more information on all the BYTE benchmarks, see "BYTE's New Benchmarks: New
Looks, New Numbers" on page 1 58 in the August issue.

Hard Disk Confusion at IVIicro Express

In BYTE's Product Focus on 386SX
systems (see "386SX PCs: Heirs to
the Low End," August), we recom-
mended Micro Express's ME 386 SX/
SL, based in part on its fast (19 millisec-
ond) Quantum ProDrive hard disk drive.
Since then, some readers have reported
that they had received slower hard disk
drives in the systems that they ordered.
Readers also reported having problems
contacting Micro Express and receiving
technical support.

BYTE repeatedly called Micro Ex-
press, posing as a customer, and did ex-
perience problems getting through to
both sales representatives and technical-
support personnel. When we asked what
hard disk drive was shipped with the sys-
tem, two salespeople cited a 28-ms West-
ern Digital hard disk drive; another cited
a more comparable 23-ms Conner Pe-
ripherals hard disk drive. None of the

salespeople mentioned the Quantum Pro-
Drive.

A Micro Express spokesperson said
that favorable reviews of the ME 386
SX/SL had caused a rush of orders that
overloaded the company's telephone sys-
tem and created temporary product
shortages and support problems. He
added that the company is working to
correct these problems.

Micro Express confirmed that it no
longer sells the 40-MB 19-ms Quantum
ProDrive and claimed that it was offering
a comparably equipped system with
either a 28-ms Western Digital hard disk
drive for $1799 or an 80-MB 19-ms
Quantum ProDrive for $1899. (The sys-
tem that we tested for the Product Focus,
with 2 MB of RAM, a 40-MB hard disk
drive, and a color analog monitor, cost
$1945.) In subsequent calls. Micro Ex-
press salespersons did offer these alter-

natives, but they quoted $1999 for the
system with the 80-MB Quantum Pro-
Drive and incorrectly stated the average
access time for the Western Digital hard
disk drive as 23 ms.

Most system vendors "second source"
major components to ensure an adequate
supply. Usually, these components offer
roughly equivalent performance to the
components they replace; occasionally,
however, they do not. BYTE strongly
urges readers to specify the subsystem
components that they want when order-
ing a system. (A description of compo-
nents in our test systems accompanies
every BYTE review.) If a part isn't in
stock, most companies will special-order
it for you.

As for Micro Express, we are con-
fused about exactly what the company is
offering.

—Rob Mitchell

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 269

With HP's enhanced OCR capabilities,

chirrupy / chloroquine

246

A.

to make a series of sharp, sucking sounds with the lips, as in urging
a horse on — n. a chirruping sound — ehir'ruply adj.

chi-rur-geon (kl r^r'janj n. Ia!t«red, after L forms < ME cirurgian
< OFr cirurgien < ME & OFr cirurgie: see SURGERY | archaic far. of
SURGEON — chi rur'a«fty (-jar 5) n. — chi ruKgi cal (-ji kal) adj.

Chisjel (chiz'a!) n. INormFr (OFr cise/) < VL •ctse(iiim. for L
'caesetlum < caesus, pp. of caedere, to
cut: see -CideI a hand too! with a sharp,
often wedge-shaped, blade for cutting or ' )

shaping wood, stone, etc., specif., such a
tool that ie driven with a mallet or ham-
mer — W., y<. -eled or -elled, -el ing or
-el-IIng 1 to cut or shape with a chisel 2
[CoUoq.j a) to take advantage of by cheat-
ing, sponging, etc, b) to get (something)
in this way —chisel In [CoUoq.J to force
oneself upon others without being asked
or welcomed — chis'e^er or chis'eMer n.

chis eled or chis elled C-ald) adj. 1 cut
or shaped with a chisel 2 finely wrought, chi«i
as if shaped by a chisel '

Chis-hclm Trail (chiz'sm) | after Jesse
Ckisholm {c. 1806-68), U.S. frontier scout who established
trail from San Antonio. Tex., to ,^bi!ene. KanR.: impor-
1865 until 1880's

Chi-square (ki'skwer") n. a statistical method used ■ -
the classification of data can be ascribed to chan.
underl>ing law

chit' (chit) n. ; ME c.'ii.'tt-, prob. var. of
an immature or childish ^irl

Chit^ (ch.iij n. "_ ' chKty Hindi ckttlh.. :ct:c!, ..m;,.
spot: see 0HINT7. ^" 1 (Chiefly Brit.j o short note or ie'-
dum 2 a voucher of a small sum owed for drink, fo ■

ChittB (ciiS Ui'j city in SE R.S.F S.R., near th, ' '

pop. 336,006

cnit-Chat (ch>t'chat',> n. J redupl. ofCH^-
mai talk; chat; small taik 2 gossip

Chi-tin iki'tin! n. 'Fr chs'.irte ^ Or ch.i
homy polysaccharide. iCsH^sNOs)^, secreicd by tne
forming the main bulk of the <iuter covering of insti ■
etc. --ohi'tin ous (-as) adj.

Chrt-lins or Chlt llngs tchit'linz) n.pl. d^ai -.--.r , ; .!!: ;•!>;:

Chi'ton_(ki'tsn, -tanO n. _Gt chit6n. garmei!'.. tun:c, >oa! ::i
TUNIC i 1 a loose garment of varying length, similar s,
worn by both men and women m ancient Greece 2 anv <..:
i.Polyplacophora) of mostly small, ovoid marine mollu.sics, i-.v,; :
dorsal shell consisting of eight arliculaimg calcareous p!di*s an:^
ventral foot

ChMO'San (kit's san') n, a polysaccharide derived frurn chi;

absorbs heavy metals while in solution; it is used in industr ,

purify waste water
Chit-ta-gong (chit's gorj', -giir)') seaport m SE Bangladesh ■

Bay of Bengal: pop. 1,392,000
chil-ter (chit'sr) W. .fME chiteren: orig. echoic' 1 to uviu.t;

[Brit. Dial.} to shiver with cold
chtt'ter-lings (chit'lim; occas. chit'ar litjt') n.pj. ' ME

entrails, -souse: akin to MlxiwCr km ^nft r.»ri» ft

Chtoie or Chloie (klfl'e) jL < Gr Chios, blooming, vertiam/:

feminine name 2 see Daphnis and Chloe
Chlor- (klor) combining form CHU)RO-: used before a vowel
chlor-ac-ne (kldr ak'nf) n. an acnelike skin disorder caused bv't

sure to chlorinated hydrocarbons
Ohlo-ral (klor'a!) n. ;Chlor(o)- + al(cohol)| 1 a ■.hi:;. :;.

less liquid. CCljCHO. with a pungent odor, prepared by ;h(

of chlorine on alcohol; used in the manufacture of DDT 2 iw:

CHLORAL HYDRATE

chloral hydrate a colorless, crystalline compound, CCIj-CHlG ;
used chiefly as a sedative ;

Chlora-ltllne (kloi^s m6n', klor'a mSn': klor am'fn, -is ii
fCHi.GR(o)- + A.MINE ' a colorless, pungent liquid, NH:r!, .*i--
by the action of ammonia on some hypochlorite

ehloramphenii-col (klor'am fen'i kol', -kel') n. ■ h:
am(id! » phe{n)- * .Nl(TR)- + (cly)col5 an ant;:
C,,H,;,Cl:.NsOs, prepared synthetically or isolated fron; ;
{Streptomyces venezuelae): it is used against a wide vanei;. ;:ii
terial and rickettsial diseases and against some viruses

chlo-rate (klor'if, -it) n. a salt of chloric aci'*

chlO'to-slslkfarO'sis) n. First (ModL;
abnormal condition of plants in whic
color or turn yellow as a lack of chl
disease, lack of light, etc. 2 a form
sometimes affecting" girls at puberty ai
jreenish color — chlOTOfilc (-rai'ik) aa

cSlOTO'thl^'Zide !kl6r'5 ihia, zid') n. !
i s>mhetic drug. C-H.CIN OjS., use
iieari failure, or various edemas by re
ibrough the kidneys

clilo-rous iklor'Mi adj. 1 of or cont
designating or of an unstable acid, HC
rtich exists onlv in solution and whosi

chlofplc-rin Ikliir pik'rini n. ghk^'

chlor-promi«-ztns (kldr" '

vaient, negative radical CIO,
ohior cy cli zine (klor'si'ki-

antihistamine, (!^-**"' '
biles

&

■ to

,„.,bo5 oi »" ill"" ;«i.o«°;\ n

,,i-o

(pHei

U3

Now you can take a page of this.
A paragraph of that. Combine
them with a few images. And
quickly come up with one very
impressive document. The HP
ScanJet Plus scanner can read
everything from a magazine
article to a balance sheet. Then it
stays on the job so you can easily
fine-tune, or make major changes
to, everything you've scanned.

The affordable, 8-bit ScanJet Plus
is supported by a wide variety

of third-party OCR and gi-aphics
software packages. HP's optional

it's easy to make chocolate moose.

5R lol- & -OSISl 1 an
een parts lose their
production due lo
•deficiency anemia
ig the skin to turn a

+ THI ^ a2- + IDE!

ating iiypertension,
ixtra salt and water

rivaient

247

Chlorosis / cholinesterase

chockia-block i-a. blak'i adi. jsee prec & block| 1 Naui. a] pulled so

tight as to have the blocks touching (said of a
hoisted all the way up. ad a signal flag ^ "
tightly together
chock-full" (chak'fool'i -
cheke. cheek +

full as-- vas®

(111

cV

ackle) Al
imed —adj.

< choke.
THOKEi as

'? via Fr
powder
ted and
J sugar
—adi.
oc ':o-

•a

• CO

ye

(,10

o

t\a^\"^'

text scanning software, AccuScan,
simplifies the scanmng process
by recognizing the layout of even
the most complicated material.
Including multi-column pages
and numerical tables. AccuScan
automatically separates text from
graphics, making it easy for you
to pick and choose the infor-
mation you want. An optional
twenty-page automatic document
feeder makes you even more
efficient.

The ScanJet Plus gives you a
head start. With one-button auto-
matic text scanning. Live preview
for instant feedback on image
quality. And auto exposure, which
works like a point and shoot
camera. To make things even
easier, it features on-line help.

HP has added aU these impressive
capabilities to a scanner known
for its superior image scanning.
The ScanJet Plus reads 256 levels
of gray for smooth shading and
more realistic graphics.

At only S2,190* the ScanJet Plus
makes perfect sense for any
business interested in being more
productive. And more profes-
sional. For more information and
the name of your nearest autho-
rized HP dealer, caU 1-800-752-
0900, Ext. 1666. And even if you
never make chocolate moose,
youH have a recipe for success.

HEWLETT
PACKARD

'Suggested U.S. list price without document feeder. © 1990 Hewlett-Packard Company PE12036

STATE OF THE ART

Magnetic

vs.

Optical

275 State of the Media

by David A. Harvey

Playing Catch-Up

by Andrew Reinhardt

283 Crystal Clear Storage

by Tom Parish

289 Entering a New Phase

by Bob Ryan

301 The Once and Future King

by Bob Ryan

Side by Side

by Bill Passavanti

311 Store Data in a Flash

by Walter Lahti and
Dean McCarron

323 DAT's a Solution

by Karina Lion

331 Getting Your Byte's Worth

by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

338 Masses of Storage

Mass storage is the subject of
one of the hottest debates in
the computer industry. Will
optical media replace mag-
netic media? Many people think it's only
a matter of time. But magnetic media are
far from dead. In fact, they outperform
optical media by a significant margin.

Perhaps magnetic will withstand the
challenge it faces from optical. Perhaps it
won't. Or perhaps the two will merge
into a hybrid form. In "State of the
Media," David A. Harvey looks at the
advantages and disadvantages of each
and explores the possibilities of hybrid
technologies combining the good points
of both. And in a related text box, "Play-
ing Catch-Up," Andrew Reinhardt ex-
plores the confusion that is the stan-
dards' environment for optical storage.

One of the wildest ideas I've heard in a
long time is that of storing data in crys-
tals with light. This is no hocus-pocus.
In "Crystal Clear Storage," Tom Parish
examines holographic data storage, a
technology whose capacity dwarfs even
that of optical disks, while giving you
faster access to your data.

Another new optical storage technol-
ogy, called phase change, uses a whole
new method for storing data on an optical
disk. In the process, it merges the capac-
ity of magneto-optical storage with a per-
formance better than that of traditional
optical storage. It may bridge the gap be-
tween magnetic and optical. In "Enter-
ing a New Phase," Bob Ryan describes
how phase-change technology works and
its potential for the future.

The most popular form of magnetic
technology is the disk, be it a hard disk or
a floppy. If magnetic disk technologies
are to remain healthy, they will have to
continue to evolve, in speed, in capacity,
in densities, and in recording means and
materials. In "The Once and Future

King," Bob Ryan looks at new disk tech-
nologies, what they are and how they are
likely to affect future disk drives. In the
text box "Side by Side," Bill Passavanti
discusses perpendicular recording, a
new way to put more bits onto a disk.

Another new form of "disk" technol-
ogy is solid-state. Flash-memory ICs,
contained on credit-card-size devices,
are entering the microcomputer arena.
Because of their size, they will probably
invade the laptop market first, and take it
by storm. In "Store Data in a Flash,"
Walter Lahti and Dean McCarron ex-
plain what flash memory is, what it is
likely to be used for, and why.

After disks, the next most popular
magnetic medium is tape. You don't tend
to think of magnetic tape when you think
of microcomputers, but as systems be-
come larger and more complex, backups
become more important. When disk-to-
disk backups are no longer practical,
tape provides an alternative. In "DAT's a
Solution," Karina Lion examines the ad-
vantages of digital audiotape and ex-
plores quarter-inch cartridge and 8-mm
options as well.

Whether you use magnetic or optical
media, data compression is becoming the
rule rather than the exception in an effort
to cram more data into existing space. In
"Getting Your Byte's Worth," Steven J.
Vaughan-Nichols examines hardware-
based data compression. It is so transpar-
ent and automatic, you'll never know
you're using it.

As data continues to proliferate, the
optical versus magnetic debate will con-
tinue, and new and improved technol-
ogies will appear on both sides — and in
the middle. So let the opposing factions
fight it out. We'll just watch — and collect
the spoils.

—Jane Morrill Tazelaar
Senior Editor, State of the Art

272 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

ILLUSTRATION: JOE CAST © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 273

0E$K ]\0T BIG E]\0[JGH ?

17 million business documents
are lost or misfiled each day.

Announcing a major breakthrough in image storage and retrieval:

if

r

PaperTamer offers more
power and flexibility than
other existing document
storage and retrieval systems—
and paperTamer costs 1/lOth
of the price.

PaperTamer is designed to
eliminate the need to run to
the file room every time you
need information. PaperTamer
provides immediate access to
over a million images, docu-
ments, memos and articles.

Flagstaff Engineering offers
a complete line of peripheral
products to provide complete
image storage and retrieval
systems including scanners,
optical drives and mass
storage devices.

No one delivers rock solid
solutions like Flagstaff
Engineering, the company
that continues to help people
read a world of information.

Circle 137 on Reader Service Card

FLAGSTAFF
ENGINEERING

Domestic Sales and Marketing

1120 Kaibab Lane
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
(602) 779-3341 / FAX (602) 779-5998

International Sales

1930 S. Alma School #C202
Mesa, AZ 85210
(602) 831-5100 / FAX (602) 831-0684

GSA APPROVED

STATE OF THE ART
MAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

State of the Media

Magnetic vs. optical: Is it the war of the disk drives
or a marriage of convenience?

David A. Harvey

How far the micro-
computer indus-
try has come in a
decade or so. It
wasn't so long ago that all
data was stored on cassette
tapes. At that time, the advent
of the single-sided floppy disk
seemed like a miracle.

Today, with a 150-mega-
byte hard disk drive, two CD-
ROM units, and a 1 -gigabyte
magneto-optical drive — not to
mention double-sided high-
density floppy disk drives-
serving for storage, thoughts
of single-sided disks give me
acute claustrophobia. How-
ever, the more places you
have to put data, the more
confusing it can become to
decide which device to use.

As much as we'd all like to
have the newest and most in-
novative technologies on our
desks, the primary question
is, "Which storage option is
really appropriate to your needs?" If you
listen to all the hype, you're going to
hear conflicting reports.

The makers of traditional magnetic
drives will tell you that they provide a
faster and more tested technology, and
that the capacity of hard disk drives is in-
creasing daily. The producers of optical
drives are prone to elaborate on how the
time has come for optical drives to re-

place all other mass storage devices. And
floppy disk drives continue to grow big-
ger and faster, too.

Ultimately, the industry will probably
evolve toward one standard way of stor-
ing information. From here, that future
looks optical. But for now, the choices
you make will affect not only your pro-
ductivity, but also how you work.

The conflict between traditional mag-

netic mass storage devices and
optical technologies includes
questions of speed, cost, data
migration, archival needs,
and the amount of data you
need to store. The most im-
portant difference between
the two technologies lies in
how they let you manipulate
the data.

Magnetic Racing Stripes

If the data associated with
your primary applications is
contained in executable and
temporary files, in discrete
and manageable data files,
then you probably want a hard
disk drive. The advantages of
hard disk drives include their
speed, cost, and universality.

No optical device on the
market can even come close to
matching the speed of a ge-
neric Intelligent Drive Elec-
tronics drive with a software
cache thrown in. And optical
drives can't begin to touch an ESDI hard
disk drive with 0.5-millisecond access
time, throughput greater than 1 mega-
byte, and a bus-mastered caching con-
troller on an Extended Industry Standard
Architecture bus.

If you need your data nearly instanta-
neously, if a hard disk can contain it, and
if you have a good backup system worked
out for that data, then you probably have

ILLUSTRATION: JOE CAST © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 275

STATE OF THE ART
STATE OF THE MEDIA

no reason to go optical. Optical devices
are not so slow that they're unusable,
however. Some of the newer rewritable
devices, both phase-change and magne-
to-optical, are fast approaching hard disk
drive speeds.

Optical drives are slow for a number of
reasons. CD-ROMs and some WORM
(write once, read many times) drives use
constant linear velocity (CLV)— data is
organized sequentially in one continuous
spiral track, rather than in tracks and
sectors (see figure 1). When you want in-
formation, the read head must find the
temporal position of the data rather than
moving to a logical address. The process
of finding a specific piece of information
is analogous to scanning a compact disk
to find a particular passage of music: The
read head must move along the entire
track until it gets to the data.

Read-write optical drives employ con-
stant angular velocity (CAV)— data is or-
ganized into sectors and tracks (see fig-
ure 2). The read-write head is heavier
than a conventional hard disk drive's,
and thus it takes longer to physically
move the head to a given location.

Until now, the real degradation in re-

writable optical drive performance was
tied to the technology of the magneto-
optical drive. On an MO drive, writing a
byte of information requires two passes.
An erase pass restores the disk to its orig-
inal state; then a write pass adjusts the

A

f» traditional
hard disk drive is still
the best bet for primary
mass storage.

magnetization to reflect the bit pattern of
the data. With the advent of phase-
change technology, which can do one-
pass writes (see "Entering a New Phase"
on page 289), the performance of rewrit-
able optical devices will improve tremen-
dously.

Even without phase-change technol-

ogy, however, MO drives are relatively
fast. The Storage Dimensions LaserStor
on my desk reports an average seek time
of about 40 ms. To put that into perspec-
tive, it's about as fast as a Seagate ST251
and faster than an ST225.

What all this means is that if you are
using disk-intensive programs— anima-
tion packages, spreadsheet and database
programs, programs that make frequent
use of temporary files, or anything that
uses the hard disk drive for virtual mem-
ory—you're far better off using a tradi-
tional hard disk drive to store your in-
formation.

The Magnetic Advantage

Physical size and power requirements are
another advantage of hard disk units.
Within the last few years, hard disk
drives have become smaller and required
less power. It's reached the point where
if you look in almost any laptop, you'll
find a 2 '/2-inch form-factor drive. The
disk in this drive holds between 20 MB
and 100 MB of data and can run for
hours on battery power.

Optical drives, on the other hand, are
bulkier and require more power. With
the exception of CD-ROM drives, which
come in a 5 U-inch half-height form fac-
tor, most optical drives are full-height
5U-inch models— too large for laptops.
(A slew of full-height 3 '/2-inch optical
drives are expected to hit the market this
year.) More and more manufacturers are
making half-height optical drives, but
even these are too big and too heavy for a
laptop. You'll see them sooner in AC-
only transportables and luggables.

As long as you don't continually run
out of available storage space, hard disk
drives are your most economic solution.
This means not only that it's going to
cost you less to store your data, but also
that you can upgrade or add new drives as
you need them. With SCSI drives or a
multidrive controller, like PSI's hyper-
Store, you can easily circumvent DOS's
two-drive limitation and add as many
drives as you need.

The start-up cost for WORM or re-
writable drives is still high. At best,
you're going to pay in the neighborhood
of $3500 for an optical drive, a control-
ler, and one piece of media. However,
additional disks cost only SlOO to $200.
In the long run, if you're dealing with
massive quantities of information, an op-
tical system may be cheaper.

A traditional magnetic hard disk drive
is still the best bet for a primary mass
storage system. In this role, an optical
drive just can't compete with a hard disk
drive's price, performance, and overall

CONSTANT LINEAR VELOCITY

Figure 1: In constant linear velocity (CLV) recording, data is arranged in a single
spiral track with a uniform density of bits. This lets you pack the most information
possible onto the disk. The speed of the disk varies between the outer and inner
edges—the closer the read head gets to the outer edge, the faster the disk spins. Data
is located by its temporal position, measured in minutes and seconds. Each second
consists oflK bytes of data.

276 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ART
STATE OF THE MEDIA

functionality. For example, the NeXT
Computer came initially with only a re-
writable optical drive. However, because
this device proved too slow for its virtual
memory file swapping, NeXT added a
conventional hard disk drive to speed up
the operation.

That doesn't mean that there aren't
any uses for optical devices. Quite the
opposite, in fact. Document storage and
retrieval, graphical image databases,
medical diagnostic references, and the
storage of multiple versions of files are
some of the applications best suited to op-
tical storage. And when put to good use,
an optical storage system can be an essen-
tial part of a computer system.

The Optical Advantage

The limitations of hard disk drives be-
come apparent when you deal with large
volumes of data that in turn require a lot
of space for backup. If you're dealing
with 1 gigabyte of data, you could opt for
mirrored 1 -gigabyte hard disk drives.
But when the data enters the multigiga-
byte or even terabyte range, hard disk
drive solutions become unmanageable.

Optical drives can store more informa-
tion in less space than hard disk drives
can. Since optical drives use easily re-
moved and inserted cartridges, you can
use a single drive to manage unlimited
amounts of information. And with juke-
box-style changers, in which a robotic
arm handles disk changing and selection,
you can have terabytes on-line.

The optical storage advantage occurs
because the laser is more precise and
requires less room to write the same
amount of data than the write head of a
magnetic hard disk drive does. With
WORM drives, which usually encode
bytes of information as pits on the sur-
face of the disk, this means both more in-
formation in a smaller space, and a more
secure store of data— the pits are a rela-
tively permanent form of encryption and
are not affected by magnetic fields.

More storage space doesn't just mean
cramming more onto a disk, however. It
fundamentally changes what you can do
with your personal computer. Instead of
dealing with only part of a set of data,
you can have all the data in one place at
one time. If you work with large images,
an optical drive not only allows you to
store the images in one place, but it
makes them easier to manipulate, com-
pare, and analyze.

Optical devices are particularly suited
to storing documents. Using software de-
signed for file management, such as
N/Hance's TextScan or Lotus's Magel-
lan, you can sort and group documents

contextually. The advantage to this isn't
just speed. It allows you to group docu-
ments in ways that were impossible when
they weren't all accessible for complex
word searches.

Another benefit to optical drives is
that you can store both a graphical image
of the original document and a text copy
on the disk. This is useful for performing
signature verification or for including di-
agrams and photographs. The possibili-
ties are endless with this kind of storage.

One real-world example comes from
Bill Ford, president of On-Line Com-
puter Systems. Using CD-ROM and the
company's retrieval technology, On-
Line devised a troubleshooting disk for a
telecommunications switch. Technical
specifications, the switch's software
code, documentation, and diagrams of
the switch were linked together by the re-
trieval engine. Using this tool, it is possi-
ble to click on, say, a variable, get its def-
inition, and retrieve every module and
procedure that references that particular
piece of code.

People have an associative memory
and a relatively brief duration of reten-
tion in short-term memory. The avail-

ability of more information organized
relative to context rather than to content
means that you can draw different con-
clusions than if you could only access the
data in bits and pieces.

Wanted: Standards for Optical

Optical drives are akin to giant floppy
disk drives. Therefore, data exchange be-
tween users is as easy as "sneaker" net.
Proprietary installable file systems also
make data migration between different
operating systems possible.

By implementing an installable file
system that runs as a TSR program (using
interrupt 21 hexadecimal under DOS) or
as an IFS driver (for OS/2 and Unix), the
only thing you need is to install the ap-
propriate software on each operating sys-
tem. This approach has also been applied
to rewritable drives.

Another benefit of the IFSes used for
WORMS or virtual WORMs (rewritable
drives using a write-once file system) is
archive tracking. When you save a new
copy of a file to a WORM device, it
doesn't overwrite the old one. Usually
when you save a new version of a file,
only the changed sectors are written to

CONSTANT ANGULAR VELOCITY

16 0

Tracks

Sectors

Figure 2: Constant angular velocity (CAV) is the organization of data into

sectors and tracks. Because the number of bits per sector remains constant with CAV,

data is packed most tightly in the shorter tracks near the center of the disk.

Although this method cannot pack as much data onto a disk as CLV can,

the sector /track addressing method makes locating data much faster with CAV

than with CLV.

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 277

STATE OF THE ART
STATE OF THE MEDIA

Playing Catch-Up

Andrew Reinhardt

Hoping to avoid the chaos of incom-
patibility that has plagued the
WORM (write once, read many times)
drive market, manufacturers and stan-
dards committees tried to get a jump on
standards for 5 14 -inch rewritable mag-
neto-optical (MO) drives. For a while,
it seemed they had succeeded: Except
for the Canon drive used in the NeXT
Computer, all the MO drives intro-
duced since the fall of 1988 have ad-
hered to the draft ANSI and Internation-
al Standards Organization (ISO) stan-
dards.

But now the situation has grown more
complicated. At Spring Comdex last
June, Pioneer Communications and
Laser Magnetic Storage (LMS) intro-
duced "multifunction" drives that sup-
port both WORM and MO media but
use a different format than other rewrit-
ables. And in August, Hewlett-Packard,
Sony, and 12 other companies an-
nounced a specification that would
allow standard rewritable optical drives
to be used in a write-once mode.

The emergence of alternate technol-
ogies, on the eve of the ISO's expected
approval of a worldwide standard, has
thrown the market into confusion and
sparked calls to reopen standards dis-
cussions. All this wrangling concerns
only 5 W-inch media using MO technol-
ogy; standards for 3 '/2-inch disks and
phase-change media are years off.

The Near Standard

The ANSI's X3B11 committee is now
considering only one standard for 514-
inch rewritable optical disks, using MO
media and a formatting scheme called
continuous composite servo, or CCS. In
CCS. the disk is etched at the factory
with a spiral of grooves that define the
location of data tracks. Two tracking
heads read the grooves constantly to po-
sition and focus the third head precisely
over the data.

In contrast, by the time you read this,
the ISO will likely have approved two
versions of the standard for MO drives
that are identical in all respects except
for the servo technique. The standard,
called ISO DIS 10089, specifies a For-
mat A, which is CCS, and a Format B,
which is sampled servo, or SS. The lat-
ter does not use grooved tracks or multi-

ple heads; instead, bits that align the
single head are mixed in with the data.

An SS disk is stamped at the factory
with regions of precisely calibrated pits
that tell the head where a data track is
located. In the ISO specification, there
are 32 sectors per track and 43 servo
segments per sector, so in a single rota-
tion of the disk, the head's position is
calibrated almost 1400 times; even so,
it has to be much more precise than in a
CCS mechanism. Besides telling the
track location, servo regions are also
used to focus the head and provide clock
synchronization.

The Battle of the Servos

CCS traces its roots back to analog-
video laser disks. As an older and more
mature technology, it is considered a
safer bet than SS. CCS-formatted media
are easier, though more time-consum-
ing, to manufacture, whereas SS media
require more expensive and advanced
equipment, but they are faster to make
because disks can be stamped. In the
end, the manufacturing contest between
the two is a draw, because current tech-
nology makes both equally feasible;
any differences in price are due to pro-
duction volumes, which favor CCS.

The more germane advantages of SS,
according to its proponents, are that it
offers superior speed and accuracy, as
well as the potential for greater disk ca-
pacity. SS drives handle data and servo
information separately and sequential-
ly, whereas CCS drives must deal with
both simultaneously. Therefore, CCS
drives need greater processing capacity
to achieve equivalent data throughput.
More important, CCS drives can expe-
rience cross talk between the data and
tracking grooves: Because this interfer-
ence is absent from SS drives, SS offers
a better signal-to-noise ratio.

Since SS drives have only one head,
which saves a lot of mass, they can seek
tracks faster. And because surface area
on the disk is not used up for tracking
grooves, SS disks can have many more
tracks, although current standards do
not specify that. (Because some of each
track is used up for servo information,
SS disks hold less data per track. In the
ISO format, enough additional tracks
are added that the net capacity of both

formats is the same.)

Pioneer and LMS developed SS MO
drives because they already sell SS
WORM drives and wanted to provide an
upgrade path for current users. The ad-
vantage is that you only need a single
drive unit to use both WORM and re-
writable media. By contrast, the CCS
MO drives, marketed by Sony, Ricoh,
and others, can't read from or write to
any other optical media. Pioneer and its
cohorts asked ANSI to consider adding
a specification for SS to its 5 14 -inch MO
standard, but the membership voted
strongly against the request in a May
meeting. So, only the ISO will docu-
ment SS.

Magneto-Optical Multifunction

The consortium headed by Hewlett-
Packard has responded to the Pioneer-
type multifunction drives with a pro-
posal to give MO drives an "archival"
capability. Such drives would also be
multifunctional, but they would use
only MO media. However, you would
still need to stock separate disks for per-
manent and temporary storage because
each would be coded differently at the
factory.

The Hewlett-Packard specification
would supplement the current ANSI/
ISO specifications, but neither stan-
dards organization has plans at this time
to incorporate it into published docu-
ments. However, with Hewlett-Pack-
ard, Sony, Maxoptix, Olympus/Ricoh,
Seiko/Epson, Philips-Du Pont Optical,
3M, Fuji, Mitsui, and Asahi backing it,
the specification may become a de facto
standard even if it is never formally
adopted.

In a nutshell, the Hewlett-Packard
scheme takes advantage of fields that
are defined but unused in the current
ISO standard. These fields would be
used to set flags indicating that the re-
writable medium was to be used only for
permanent storage. While bits would
not be permanently burned into the me-
dium as with WORMS, Hewlett-Pack-
ard contends that with proper firmware
the disks would be as secure as WORM
storage — and perhaps longer-lived.

Opponents of the proposal say that if
you need write-once storage, you won't
want to use disks that could theoretical-

278 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ART
STATE OF THE MEDIA

ly be erased. Hewlett-Packard responds
that somebody bent on destroying data
could also alter a WORM; in any case,
its write-once MO proposal offers three
levels of security. The most prevalent
misconception about the method is that
an MO disk written with "permanent"
data could be accidentally erased if it
were inserted into an older-generation
MO drive; in fact, says Hewlett-Pack-
ard's Bill Boles, the drive would reject
the disk or issue an error message.

The three levels of security are as fol-
lows: First, the disk contains two tracks
whose contents are coded at the factory
to indicate whether it is a rewritable or
write-once MO. If the codes indicate
that the disk is rewritable, the drive can
store data; if not, or if the drive can't
read the tracks (as would be the case for
older generation media), then no writ-
ing is allowed. The second and third
levels of protection involve setting flags
on the disk— one is an indication written
during formatting that the medium is
write-only, and the other is a code em-
bedded in each sector that indicates it is
locked.

What this means, of course, is that
disks can be either write-once or rewrit-
able, but not both. What is the benefit of
this scheme over Pioneer's if you still
have to use different media, especially
when WORM disks are cheaper? Hew-
lett-Packard answers that MO disks will
eventually become less expensive than
WORMs because of higher volume.
More important, some research now in-
dicates that MO disks are more stable in
the long run than WORMs, which are
subject to decay from humidity trapped
in the data pits.

A Fly in the Ointment

Yet another variant exists for MOs that
could further complicate the standards
picture. This subset of the CCS format,
called zoned constant angular velocity,
or Z-CAV, is concerned not with pits
versus grooves, but only with the ar-
rangement of sectors in tracks. Al-
though neither the ANSI nor the ISO is
considering its adoption as a standard
right now, a group of vendors, including
Maxoptix, Hewlett-Packard, and sev-
eral media makers, is promoting the
speed and capacity benefits of Z-CAV.

All the drives discussed earlier are
constant angular velocity (CAV) de-
vices, which means that their motors
spin at a constant speed (see figure 2).
(By contrast, audio compact disks and
CD-ROMs use constant linear velocity,
which means that the motor spins at dif-
ferent speeds depending on which track
is being read, so that the data passes
under the laser at a constant rate. See
figure 1.)

CAV disks look like bicycle wheels,
with the sectors arranged regularly be-
tween the spokes. Z-CAV, on the other
hand, takes advantage of the fact that the
outer tracks of a disk are longer than the
inner tracks. The result is a staggered
arrangement of sectors, with an increas-
ing number per track the closer they are
to the outer edge. The Tahiti drives
from Maxtor can support standard CAV
and nonstandard Z-CAV media, and the
Z-CAV disks hold 1 gigabyte of data in-
stead of the normal 650 megabytes. Ac-
cess to data in the outer tracks is also
faster than in the CAV arrangement.

Further in the Future

Two other developments loom on the
horizon for optical storage. The first is
phase change (see "Entering a New
Phase" on page 289). The second is 3 '/2-
inch drives and media, for which stan-
dards are still evolving.

The ANSI and ISO have promulgated
draft standards for 3 '/2-inch MO media
and drives, and on that basis, a few
companies, including Pinnacle Micro
and O.C. E.A.N. Microsystems, have
already shipped products based on a
Nakamichi mechanism. But you may be
taking a risk buying these drives, says
Ken Hallam, chairperson of the ANSI
subcommittee on 5 W -inch MO stan-
dards. Buyers of early Sony and Ricoh
5 '4 -inch MO drives will be able to meet
the final ISO standard with a field
PROM upgrade, but changes may yet
occur to the 3 '/6 -inch specification that
would render existing products physi-
cally incompatible with the final stan-
dard.

Hallam says that an agreement on
3 V4-inch MO standards is at least a year
away at the ISO and even further at
ANSI because there are still a lot of ar-
guments between committee members.

The new specification won't be just a
scaled-down version of 5 14 -inch stan-
dards, because manufacturers want to
leapfrog today's drive technology. One
possible goal— pushed for mainly by
IBM— is to allow both rewritable and
read-only (stamped) disks to be used in
the same drives. IBM apparently be-
lieves 31^ -inch media will become an
important means of distributing soft-
ware.

Among the most controversial ques-
tions still to be decided is whether the
whole disk or only parts of it may be
read-only. ANSI is leaning toward al-
lowing only a single track to be read-
only because this would simplify track-
ing and eliminate the need to catalog
which parts of the disk are rewritable
and which are not. But Japanese vendors
and other forces in the ISO want read/
write status to be fully interchangeable
on a sector-by-sector basis, which
would complicate tracking and defect
management but increase flexibility.

In any case, if 3 Vi-inch drives have to
accommodate read-only media, the
specifications for tracking and reflec-
tivity will have to be quite different than
in the 5 14 -inch specification, because,
to a laser beam, stamped bits look dif-
ferent from MO spots. If that is not
enough to worry buyers of 3 -inch
drives, as recently as August ANSI ap-
proved minor changes to the disk car-
tridge specification that could render
current 3 1/2 -inch media incompatible
with future drives.

A Vicious Cycle

The push and pull between market
forces, standards bodies, and what is
technically feasible has always been
complex, even in the well-planned opti-
cal storage area. The problem facing op-
tical drives today is not technology but
confusion over standards.

This is a vicious cycle: Uncertainty
depresses demand, which keeps vol-
umes low and prices high, which de-
presses demand, and so on. Until the
uncertainty is alleviated, optical drives
won't reach their potential.

Andrew Reinhardt is an associate news
editor for BYTE. He can be reached on
BlXas "areinhardt. "

NOVEMBER 1990 - BYTE 279

STATE OF THE ART
STATE OF THE MEDIA

disk, and new pointers are ad( i.

Combined with a file syster hat man-
ages the pointers, this meth I enables
you to recover any version of ly file at
any time. Such a recovery is j isible be-
cause the directory structure c i WORM
drive is not stored in a file llocation
table; it is saved as discre„ address
pointers located after each sector.

Thus, if you need to keep audit trails of
documents, you no longer have to keep
multiple floppy disks, directories, or
paper copies. This capability makes
WORM technology ideal both for back-
ups and, in cases where you always need
to have multiple versions available, for
primary document storage.

This sounds great, and it would be if
you could just install the software, re-
gardless of the drive's manufacturer.
Alas, you can't. In the first place, a lot of
manufacturers add specialized functions
to their bus adapters, and their IFSes are
written to take advantage of unique fea-
tures and capabilities.

While having devices from different
manufacturers is normal in many compa-
nies, problems arise when you need a dif-
ferent host adapter for each one. Al-

though I've been pleasantly surprised by
the relatively few problems I've had with
several different bus adapters coexisting
in my computer, I've run out of expan-
sion slots.

Universal support of SCSI would mean
that any combination of devices could be
daisy chained from one host controller.
This would not only solve the slot and I/O
address problems generated by multiple
adapters, but, in the case of bus-mastered
SCSI controllers, would result in signifi-
cant performance advantages.

One thing that appears to be happen-
ing, however, is that a number of vendors
are moving to support the SCSI-1 and -2
standards for their drives. Sony drives,
for example, can be run off a standard
Adaptec SCSI controller.

WORM drives especially are beset by
standardization problems. Almost every
WORM drive on the market uses a dif-
ferent proprietary file system (the same
IFSes that make portability between op-
erating systems possible). This means
that you can't read disks across different
manufacturers' drives. But the problem
doesn't end with the file system: WORM
drives are so proprietary that for some a

pit is a 0 and for others it's a 1 .

For MO drives, the situation is slightly
better. The International Standards Or-
ganization standard was not final when
the 5 W -inch MO drive came out, which
resulted in some incompatibility between
different manufacturers' drives. But the
move is toward firmware upgrades and
the production of new devices that adhere
to the standards. For a detailed look at
the standards' situation with all kinds of
optical disks, see the text box "Playing
Catch-Up" on page 278.

Hopefully, optical drives will move
increasingly toward standards for deal-
ing with data storage and for bus inter-
faces. Much of the promise of the tech-
nology would be defeated by a scenario
in which drives and disks are manufac-
turer-specific. Rather than going the
route of hard disk drives, which, in gen-
eral, require you to use the adapter card
with which they were formatted, optical
drive makers need to pull together and
work toward common ground.

If you can truly treat optical drives as
giant floppy disk drives, the advantages
will be limitless. However, if they be-
come entrenched in proprietary inter-

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While many computer manufacturers say they are com-
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STATE OF THE ART
STATE OF THE MEDIA

faces and ways of dealing with media, I
fear that many of their advantages will be
lost. The situation is reminiscent of the
one users faced trying to use 360K-byte
floppy disks in the early 1 .2-MB drives.

Optical drives are also more suited for
use in environments that are not kind to
conventional hard disk drives. The re-
cording techniques of optical drives and
the durability of the media mean that
heat, vibration, and magnetization are
less likely to adversely affect them.

Even though the recording heads on
WORM and rewritable drives are still
very sensitive, using them to read data in
adverse circumstances is more success-
ful than using conventional storage de-
vices. Hard disk drives just weren't built
for use under extremely stressful condi-
tions. With a magnetically and physical-
ly sensitive disk rotating just microns
away from a head, hard disk drives are
prone to both magnetic and mechanical
disruption.

The nature of optical media promises a
longer life than that of conventional mag-
netic media. In the case of WORMs and
CD-ROMs, you have the added security
of data permanence. Conservative esti-

mates are that a WORM or a CD-ROM
disk will last 60 to 100 years and that the
data on an MO disk will remain stable for
about 10 years.

A Marriage of Convenience

Traditional magnetic devices and optical
storage devices are not mutually exclu-
sive. Rather, they use complementary
technologies. The problems arise when
you begin to treat them as one and the
same. Admittedly, if you don't really
need the speed of a fast hard disk drive,
you could certainly do very well with a
rewritable optical device as your primary
storage unit. For most of us, though,
faster hard disk drives are essential to
getting optimum performance from our
applications and our personal computers.

Although data redundancy is a good
thing, you don't want to overdo it. When
you reach the point where, without any
real method or reason, you sometimes
use a hard disk drive and sometimes an
optical drive as your primary storage de-
vice, your productivity will drop in pro-
portion to the number of files that are
saved on different devices. It is hard
enough to find information on a large

hard disk without having to scan over an-
other gigabyte or so of WORM and re-
writable disk space.

If you take a sober look at optical tech-
nologies, you'll probably find one that
will work for you. Personally, I don't
know anyone who wouldn't benefit from
CD-ROM. At the same time, don't toss
your hard disk drive in the trash. Optical
drives bring us the ability to do things
that conventional magnetic drives can-
not; they don't replace them. Chances
are, you'll be using your hard disk to hold
programs and store your primary data
for some time to come.

"A place for everything, and every-
thing in its place" is a good rule of thumb
for managing data. When considering
the wonders of optical drives, remember
that the power of any new technology lies
not in what it can do that's already been
done, but in what it can do that has previ-
ously been impossible. ■

David A. Harvey lives in Houston, Texas,
where he is finishing an MA degree in lit-
erature and creative writing at the Uni-
versity of Houston. You can reach him on
BIX as "daharvey. "

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CSS logo. CSS Laboratories, k Solid Investment, MaxSys are trademarks of CSS Laboratories. Inc. .All other
brand names and ptDduct names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
©1990 CSS Laboratories, Inc.

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Las Vegas, Nevada

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To:

Sub iec

I'm not sure I know enough about large-scale uork groups to coMwent
= RE: Question about Desktop -
To: Sharon Jones 76005,7777 CC:

Thanks uery Much for your suggestion, I'll reuieu it again here.
Sue

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STATE OF THE ART
MAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

Crystal Clear
Storage

Holographic data storage promises faster access
to lots more data. This is a new age.

Tom Parish

It's no surprise to even
the layperson these
days to hear about tre-
mendous advances in
processor speeds for com-
puters. In the 15 years since
the first personal computer
was introduced, processors
have evolved from 4 bits with
CPU speeds in the thousands
of instructions per second to
32 bits with speeds of up to 50
million instructions per sec-
ond.

Processor speeds for super-
computers are moving beyond
the billion-instruction-per-
second range. With all this
performance— and the prom-
ise for more— we really need
ways to improve data-access
times and data transfer rates
between primary and second-
ary memory systems (i.e.,
RAM and disk).

However, no matter how
creative the system architec-
ture is, performance is always limited by
how fast you can store (and retrieve)
data. The limitations are the result of the
seek and latency times that the mechani-
cal nature of all disk drives— magnetic or
optical— causes.

The problem is that disk drives are
slow in comparison to present-day CPUs,
even those used in personal computers.
This situation is well known as the I/O

bottleneck. Over the past 10 years, disk
drive performance has increased by
about a factor of three. In comparison,
the CPU performance has increased by
about a factor of 1000.

Computers designed with current pro-
cessor technology require that you invest
in sophisticated hardware and software
disk-caching schemes to achieve quicker
access to large volumes of data. How-

ever, disk caching does not
provide significant speed im-
provements when you need
random access to large data
sets.

Another idea that was bor-
rowed from the mainframe
arena is the use of disk arrays.
However, parallel access to
eight disk drives only adds an
order of magnitude improve-
ment in performance.

Despite fantastic advances
in magnetic and optical disk
technologies, physical limita-
tions are involved in getting
data on and off these rotating
devices. A top-of-the-line
disk drive today can transfer 3
to 8 megabytes per second.

Enabling full-motion video
editing and playback, for ex-
ample, will require band-
widths greater than 20 MBps
with current TV and personal
computer standards. Further,
high-definition TV requires
four times the resolution of today's video
programs and double the frame rate (60
frames per second instead of the current
30 frames per second).

What we need is a memory device that
performs like RAM and has the capacity
and cost of magnetic and optical media.
The Optics Lab at Microelectronics and
Computer Technology Corp. (MCC) is
developing new techniques for storing

ILLUSTRATION: JOE CAST © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 283

STATE OF THE ART
CRYSTAL CLEAR STORAGE

REMOVING THE I/O BOTTLENECK

I/O bottleneck

Memory

Disk

Memory

w

Holostore

Figure 1: The holostore is a new mass storage device that stores digital information
as three-dimensional optical holograms. It could eliminate the I/O bottleneck.

HOLOSTORE STORAGE CHARACTERISTICS

Table 1 : The characteristics of the holostore, both in the prototype device and
in expected achievable targets, provide an overall view of its capabilities.

Characteristics

Prototype targets

Achievable future targets

Page size
Pages per stack
Stacks per module
Storage module
Size

Capacity
Media

Average page
read time

Average page
write time

Average sustained
transfer rate

Costs

Packaging

64K bits
30 to 50
900 to 2500

3 by 3 by 0.5 cm to
5 by 5 by 0.5 cm

200 MB to 2 gigabytes

Fixed array of strontium
barium niobate
(3 cm by 0.5 cm)

1 to 10 microseconds

100 microseconds

1 00 to 800 M B per second

Prototype costs to be
determined

5V4-inch peripheral

1 megabit

100

10,000

10 by 10 by 0.5 cm

Over 100 gigabytes
Removable module

100 nanoseconds

10 microseconds

Over 1 terabyte per second

Less tlian two times magnetic
or optical disk cost per
bit in 1995

Hybrid module

digital information as three-dimensional
(3-D) optical holograms. The holostore,
a new mass storage device with super-
computer performance, could eliminate
the I/O bottleneck (see figure 1).

Storing and retrieving data as two-
dimensional patterns of light, or pages,
in a 3-D volume of light-sensitive crystal
provides the basis for the holostore. Or-
ganizing the data into pages provides ac-
cess speeds orders of magnitude faster
than the rotating devices of today. For
example, the fastest magnetic disk cur-
rently available takes over 5 hours to
transfer what a holostore device could
transfer in 1 second. Here, finally, is a
memory device that can handle the de-

mands of computing with images.

This technology is based on photo-
refractive volume holographic storage
(PVHS) techniques; it makes possible
extremely fast, nonvolatile, and poten-
tially removable media. Holostore mem-
ory would be a good choice for systems
that need to provide fast random access
for the recording and playback of digital
video and high-throughput transaction-
processing systems. It could finally en-
able a secondary memory device to out-
perform the processor.

How It Works

Holostore is a name informally adopted
for a memory device using holographic

storage techniques that is capable of stor-
ing digital information as 3-D holograms
in photorefractive crystals. To provide
an overall view of the holostore's storage
characteristics, table 1 shows its proto-
type targets and achievable future per-
formance targets.

To optimize the device for a particular
system (i.e., to the size of the blocks of
data used), you can control page size,
pages per crystallite (per stack), stacks
per module, and whether modules are
fixed or removable. A DOS- or Unix-
based operating system would find a 4K-
byte or 8K-byte page size easy to handle,
since these choices closely map what disk
drives provide today as a cluster. A holo-
store device embedded with custom pro-
cessors for image processing may work
more optimally with images sized to 512
by 512 bits, or 32K bytes. Record-ori-
ented processing systems might perform
better with smaller page sizes.

For illustrative purposes, let's assume
the storage medium inside the holostore
is an array of 2500 tiny crystal rods (50
by 50) tightly packed into a volume of 5
cm by 5 cm by 0.5 cm. This storage me-
dium is small enough to need a special
package to carry it. Initial prototypes ex-
pected in the next few years will be built
to fit in a 5 14 -inch form factor. The holo-
store's size will shrink considerably as
solid optoelectronic technology matures,
making it possible to integrate holostore
technology directly into the processor.

The crystal storage material is stron-
tium barium niobate doped with cerium
to accelerate the photoelectronic activity
during the write process. For details on
the nondestructive read problems being
solved for photorefractive crystals and
the reason for using an array of crystal-
lites instead of a single monolithic cube
of photorefractive material, see the text
box "Making PVHS Work" at right.

It has been demonstrated that each
crystallite is capable of holding over 30
pages, but recent experiments indicate
that 50 or more pages may be possible.
One aerospace company demonstrated a
prototype with lithium niobate crystals
that could store 500 pages of information
without signal-to-noise problems.

Reading and Writing

The holostore's major components are
the laser source, the page composer or
spatial light modulator, the crystallite
array, the page-selector assembly, and
the detector array (see figure 2). The
laser light is split into separate beams
and steered into the crystallite to write or
read a page of data.
The holostore's laser source is a

284 BYTE" NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ART
CRYSTAL CLEAR STORAGE

Making PVHS Work

Photorefractive volume holographic
storage (PVHS) technology has
been investigated in the past as a mem-
ory-storage mechanism, but with little
success. One reason for its failure was
the emphasis placed on storage capac-
ity. However, the real advantage of this
technology is its random-access speed,
which is fundamental and won't erode.

Another reason for early failures was
the state of the art of related technol-
ogies (e.g., two-dimensional spatial
light modulators as page composers,
lasers, beam deflectors, photorefractive
materials, and detector arrays). Only in
the last few years has this technology
been mature enough to put a prototype
together at a reasonable cost.

One difficulty with PVHS technol-
ogy has been its destructive readout.
The reilluminated reference beam (i.e. ,
the read beam) used to retrieve the re-
corded information also excites the
donor electrons and disturbs the equi-

librium of the space-charge field in a
manner that gradually erases the re-
cording. In other words, when you read
a page from the crystal many times,
eventually you destroy the information.
In the past, this has limited the number
of times you could read a page before the
signal-to-noise ratio became too low.

Previously, bulk photorefractive
crystals were usually used with relative-
ly large crystals, usually 1 centimeter
by 1 cm in length and 0.5 cm in depth.
However, it is difficult to grow high-
quality crystals, such as strontium bari-
um niobate, in larger sizes, making
scaling to higher capacity difficult. As
a consequence, widespread application
for bulk photorefractive technology did
not occur, despite the initial surge of de-
velopment in the 1970s.

In 1988, researchers at Microelec-
tronics and Computer Technology
Corp. (MCC) and Stanford University
patented a nondestructive read tech-

nique and a manufacturing technique
for using arrayed crystallites instead of
monolithic crystals. The technique for
the nondestructive read provides the
ability for prolonged readout without
degrading the stored image data. Tests
have shown that the equivalent of one
billion reads can be accomplished with-
out signal-to-noise degradation.

Use of an array of crystallites, in-
stead of a single monolithic crystal, has
many advantages for holographic stor-
age. Small-diameter crystals are easier
to grow, and you can increase storage
capacity by making a larger array. In
addition, the reference beam is guided
through the crystal rod, increasing the
interaction length and thus the dynamic
range. Also, these smaller crystals dra-
matically improve the angular selectiv-
ity of pages, allowing a larger number of
pages per stack. And finally, they vir-
tually eliminate cross talk between
stacks.

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NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 285

STATE OF THE ART
CRYSTAL CLEAR STORAGE

BASIC HOLOSTORE STORAGE CONCEPT

Crystallite storage array

oooooooooo
oooooooooo
oooooooooo
oooooooooo
oooooooooo
oooooooooo
ooooooooo
ooooooooo
oooooooooo

CCD array
(page detector)

Spatial light modulator
(page composer)

Stack of
pages

Crystallite

Figure 2: The holostore
superimposes a pattern of
light and dark spots based
on the digital data onto the
data portion of the laser
beam. The data is stored as
electronic-charge patterns,
based on the interference
between the data and
reference beams, which
modify the optical
properties of the crystallite.
The result is a 3-D
holographic image of the bit
pattern carried in the data
beam.

HOLOGRAPHIC STORAGE ASSEMBLY

Control
signal

Data In Data out

Figure 3: The laser source for the holostore prototype is a compact, doubled, diode-pumped YAG laser with 80-milliwatt
output at 532 nanometers. The beam splitter splits the laser into separate data and reference beams and steers them onto the
surface of a crystallite to store (or retrieve) a page of data.

286 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ART
CRYSTAL CLEAR STORAGE

compact, doubled, diode-pumped YAG
(yttrium aluminum garnet) laser with 80-
milliwatt output at 532 nanometers (see
figure 3); a 532-nm laser falls within the
green range on the visible spectrum (see
the photo). Tracing the beam from the
laser, it first encounters the stack-selec-
tor assembly, which steers it to an indi-
vidual stack of pages. Next, a beam split-
ter separates the beam into two parts.
The first part is the data beam, and the
second is the reference beam.

Starting from the beam splitter, the
holostore expands the data beam onto the
surface of the page composer, where dig-
ital electronic data enters the system.
This data is displayed on the surface of
the page composer and illuminated by
the expanded data beam, creating a bit
pattern of light and dark spots. The holo-
store superimposes this pattern of spots
based on the digital data onto the laser
beam, where it represents the bits on the
page to be stored.

After the page composer, the holo-
store focuses the data beam through a
lens system into and through the crystal-
lite array. As the two beams, data and
reference, enter the crystallite together,
the reference beam interferes with the
data beam, writing an interference grat-
ing in the photorefractive material. The
holostore converts the grating pattern in
the photorefractive material to a stored
electronic-charge pattern that modifies
the optical properties of the crystallite.

The result is a 3-D holographic image
of the bit pattern carried in the data
beam. (The interference grating allows
the hologram to be recreated when the
holostore reads the data.) This is the en-
tire write process.

As an example, a 256- by 256-bit array
(8K bytes) should require approximately
100 microseconds to transfer, assuming
a theoretical transfer rate of 80 MBps.
Currently, the frame rate of the page
composer limits the I/O rates. To write
another 64K-bit page in the same stack,
the holostore shifts the reference beam's
angle roughly one-fourth of a degree and
loads new data on the page composer.

The read cycle is relatively simple.
During a read cycle, the data beam is
shut off, so only the reference beam
shines through. The holostore selects the
location of the reference beam for the
specific stack of pages to be read, and the
angle then determines the address of the
specific page in that stack.

The reference beam illuminates the
interference grating stored at this se-
lected angle, resulting in the reconstruct-
ed image of the original bit pattern stored
there. The holostore then focuses this

pattern as an image on the system's de-
tector array. The detector array is a
charge-coupled device that captures the
reconstructed light and dark bit patterns
of the image and converts them back to
digital electronic signals for transfer to
the computer.

An average page-access time of 1 mi-
crosecond has been demonstrated with
the prototype now under development at
MCC, which provides a potential trans-
fer rate of 800 MB per second. In the fu-
ture, even higher speeds should be avail-
able as computers are reoriented toward
high-performance memory devices.

Staging the Technology

Getting the holostore into personal com-
puters and workstations will come in
stages. Some possible areas of applica-
tion are disk replacement, disk caching,
front-end-processor caching, system-bus
interfacing, and direct cormection to the
CPU. These areas are listed in order of
their complexity to implement, as this
will have an effect on how soon holostore
devices for these functions will appear.

It's easy to affect computer perfor-
mance by installing a holostore device as
an interface to existing ESDI, SCSI, or
SMD controllers in installed systems.
This would require no changes to bus
structure or the operating system, al-

though it might be necessary to modify
disk drive controller firmware some-
what. To the controller, the holostore de-
vice would look exactly like a disk drive
without seek and latency delays. When
data is requested, it is available at what-
ever transfer rate the existing controller
can support.

Performance improvements of two to
30 times for workstations are possible
because the holostore would greatly re-
duce seek and latency times. (It would
provide 1- to 10-microsecond access
time versus approximately a 10-millisec-
ond access time for magnetic or optical
disk storage.) The holostore would pro-
vide a simple way to boost the perfor-
mance of installed systems through field
upgrades. It could also provide freedom
from the vibration and temperature prob-
lems that trouble disk drives.

Where a large investment in minicom-
puter and network-based disk systems
exists, you might want to upgrade only
the disk-caching component. After all,
the processors have the performance you
want; it's the disk drives that create the
bottleneck.

A new caching disk drive controller
with a few hundred megabytes of ex-
tremely fast nonvolatile holographic stor-
age would boost the performance of
existing drives by holding "hot spots" in

A prototype holostore device. Since the beam falls within the green range

on the visible spectrum, you can trace its progress through the device (see figure 3

for more details).

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 287

STATE OF THE ART
CRYSTAL CLEAR STORAGE

HOLOSTORE APPLICATIONS

Table 2: Many possible applications for the holostore come to mind because
of its ability to handle the demands of high bandwidth at a relatively low cost
with a nonvolatile memory system.

Memory-hierarchy element

Special virtual memory paging devices

High-speed write-through cache

Context sw/ap space

Plug-compatible disk drive replacement

"Solid-state disk" for "hot spots" in databases

"Bulk-store" swapping device for transaction processing and supercomputing
Removable medium for data backup and high-speed restore

Image-processing element

Diagnostic-medicine image store
Target-classifier subsystem
Airborne sensory-data recorder
Vehicle data-storage system

Entertainment medium

"Crystal jukebox" for music and video
High-definition TV video recorder
Read-only movie-playback system

Data-distribution medium

Compact, nonvolatile, random-access replacement for microfiche and CD-ROM

databases, and simplifying recovery and
restart issues for transaction-processing
systems. This same holostore (disk-cach-
ing controller) could provide a port for re-
movable backup and high-speed restore.

Another possibility for improving the
throughput in transaction-processing
systems is to integrate a multimegabyte,
nonvolatile holostore device into a front-
end processor or file server. This would
allow the front-end processor to run
more independently during main-system
interruptions, and would vastly simplify
recovery and restart.

A holostore device could also be inte-
grated onto the system bus as the primary
memory device, which would give you
"instant on" support for playing back
audio, video, and text files.

Finally, the most fascinating designs
with holostore devices will be those inte-
grated directly into the CPU for image-
processing applications. The holostore
can provide quick random access to ex-
tremely large files with no bus delays, an
important factor for high-performance
graphics workstations and multimedia
systems' controllers.

Interactive Video

One popular vision for the future in-
cludes full interactive-video applications
working as smoothly and quickly as text
applications do today. To achieve this vi-

sion, you need the ability to record and
play back hours of digital video as well as
edit the programs in real time. Instant
access to video and audio would also de-
crease the amount of time that profes-
sionals currently have to spend to edit
and produce video programs.

Current optical and magnetic disk
drives aren't built to achieve these vi-
sions. You may recall the problems that
the budding digital video interactive
(DVI) industry has had to overcome to
permit CD-ROMs to play back digital
video on existing 286/386 systems. So-
phisticated compression and decompres-
sion algorithms are being designed into
special ICs to overcome two problems:
insufficient data storage and I/O speeds.

NTSC-standard TV supports a screen
resolution of 5 12 by 480 pixels. You need
at least 750K bytes of data to display a
single frame. To get the full-motion ef-
fect you see on TV, the screen must dis-
play 30 frames per second; hence, the
bandwidth requirement for playing video
is 22.5 MBps. Without precompressing
the video into presentation-level video, a
CD-ROM of 648 MB would hold less
than 30 seconds of video and take more
than an hour to show.

Most scenes don't change dramatical-
ly from one frame to another. Thus, DVI
developers have devised a compression
algorithm that digitizes and stores the

first frame of a scene, and then stores
only the changes in the scene from frame
to frame.

Playing back a video application is
made possible by moving the compressed
data over the I/O path from the disk drive
to special decompression hardware. As
the CD-ROM can provide 72 minutes of
full-motion video, it will undoubtedly
become a common video playback de-
vice, much like the audio CD has.

In the Crystal Ball

Most of the cost in any computer-related
product is the memory component. The
cost of RAM, ROM, and disks domi-
nates current products, and with the
move to more digital, audio, and video
capabilities and the increases in storage
that they require, these costs will rise.

The holostore could be the next piece
in the hierarchy of memory devices be-
tween RAM and disk drives to support
the growing demands of high bandwidth,
low cost, and, most important, nonvola-
tile memory systems. Table 2 contains
some possible holostore applications.

With the growing emphasis on high-
resolution video and graphics merged
with high-fidelity audio, the holostore
could be a major weapon in the arsenal of
high-speed I/O devices— one that can
support the high bandwidth that these
digital products require. ■

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chen, Allan. "DVI Technology." Micro-
computer Solutions, September/October
1989.

Futuretech, no. 96, December 26, 1989.

Parish, Tom. "Bobcat Holographic Storage
Project Video." TR # ACT-BOB-219-
90, June 1990.

Redfield, Steve. Optical Computing Re-
search at MCC. Microelectronic and
Computer Technology Corp., 1990.

Redfield, Steve, and L. Hesselink. "En-
hanced Experiments on Holographic
Storage and Retrieval." Optics Letters,
October 1988.

Redfield, Steve, and L. Hesselink. "Pho-
torefractive Holographic Recording in
Strontium Barium Niobate Fibers." Op-
tics Letters, October 1988.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Special thanks to Ron Riedesel, Steve
Redfield, and Jerry Willenbring from the
Optics Lab at MCC, and John Pinkston,
chief scientist. MCC holds a patent on
holostore devices.

Tom Parish is a senior technical advisor
for MCC (Austin, TX). You can reach him
on BIXc/o "editors. "

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STATE OF THE ART
MAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

Entering
a New Phase

Phase-change technology combines the capacity
of magneto-optical storage with enhanced performance

Bob Ryan

Optical and mag-
netic storage rep-
resent opposite
ends of the spec-
trum. Optical storage is vol-
ume storage, while magnetic
media offer performance.

With the capacities of indi-
vidual, replaceable cartridges
measured in hundreds of
megabytes and gigabytes, op-
tical disks let you store amaz-
ing amounts of information in
machine-readable form. On
the other hand, with access
times heading below 10 milli-
seconds and throughput well
over 10 megabits per second,
magnetic media remain the
only choice for applications
where superior disk perfor-
mance is essential.

Now, by combining the ca-
pacity of magneto-optical
(MO) storage with enhanced
performance, a new optical
storage technology— rewrit-
able phase change— promises to make the
gap between optical and magnetic stor-
age seem more like a crack in the side-
walk and less like the Grand Canyon.

A New Arrival

Phase-change technology has existed
since the 1960s and is used in many com-
mercial WORM (write once, read many
times) drives. Up to now, however, tech-

ILLUSTRATION: JOE GAST © 1990

nical concerns about media durability
have kept rewritable phase-change stor-
age devices in the research labs and off
your dealer's shelves. With the introduc-
tion of rewritable phase-change drives in
this country and Japan by Matsushita,
the technology has made the transition
from theory to reality.

Phase-change technology is the first
read/write optical storage technology

that allows for the direct over-
writing of old data by new.
This gives phase change a big
advantage over current read/
write optical disks, which are
based on MO technology.

Erasable Optical Today

As the name implies, mag-
neto-optical disk drives are a
combination of magnetic and
optical technologies. Unlike
purely optical technologies,
such as CD-ROM, WORM,
and rewritable phase change,
MO systems depend on both
magnetism and optics to store
and retrieve data.

MO drives have made their
mark as the first commercial-
ly viable erasable optical tech-
nology, but limitations in the
technology may make it little
more than a transition from
pure magnetic systems to pure
optical ones.
A successful storage tech-
nology must be able to create either an
"on" or an "off condition at a particu-
lar area — the recording spot— on the re-
cording medium and be able to differen-
tiate between these two conditions. In
addition, a read/write technology must
be able to change a recording spot from
the "on" condition to the "off," and
from the "off to the "on. " Like magnet-
ic media, MO systems fulfill all the

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 289

1

STATE OF THE ART
ENTERING A NEW PHASE

requirements of true read/ write systems.
The problem comes from how they ful-
fill the requirements.

MO disks are built from layers of ma-
terials. These layers are built on a glass

or polycarbonate substrate, which car-
ries the grooves and other formatting
marks. The active recording layer, con-
sisting of a rare-earth, transition-metal
alloy, is normally sandwiched between

two other layers that enhance the effects
of the "read" laser beam. The two en-
hancement layers also protect the active
layer from contaminants. Capping off
the disk is a transparent surface layer.

The active layer of an MO disk is al-
ways magnetized. A magnetic surface af-
fects the polarization of any light that re-
flects off it by rotating the polarization of
the light either clockwise or counter-
clockwise. This is called the Kerr effect.
The direction of this rotation depends on
the magnetic orientation of the reflective
surface.

A recording spot on an MO disk can
have one of two magnetic states: positive
or negative. These correspond to binary
Os and Is. The optical head determines
whether a spot is a 0 or a 1 by analyzing
how the beam of a low-power "read"
laser is polarized when it is reflected off
the spot. Negative Kerr rotation corre-
sponds to one state; positive rotation to
the other. Thus, MO drives fulfill the
first criterion of a useful read/write tech-
nology: the ability to determine the "on"
or "off state of a particular spot on the
recording medium (see figure 1).

The second criterion — changing a spot
from a 1 to a 0 or from a 0 to a 1— in-
volves changing the magnetic orientation
of a spot. This, in turn, involves the pre-
cise synchronization of optical and mag-
netic technologies.

Magnets and Mirrors

To write to an MO disk, you have to be
able to change the magnetic orientation
of a spot without affecting the nearby
spots. This is the function of the power-
ful "write" laser.

This laser has one purpose: to heat a
spot on the recording medium to the
Curie point — the temperature at which a
magnetized substance loses its magnetic
orientation. Once a spot is heated to the
Curie point, a small electromagnet on
the side of the disk opposite the read/
write head generates a magnetic field
that reflects the new orientation of the
spot. As the spot cools past the Curie
point, it assumes the orientation of this
magnetic field (see figure 2).

When an MO disk is manufactured,
every spot on the recording layer has the
same magnetic orientation. This is the
default condition of the media. Whenever
an MO drive writes to the medium, it as-
sumes that whatever area it writes to is in
the default condition. Thus, before writ-
ing any data, an MO drive must first
erase the area of the disk it wants to write
to. Erasing a spot brings its magnetic
state back to the default condition.

Having to erase an area before writing

READING AN MO DISK

Figure 1: Every recording spot on a magneto-optical disk has a magnetic orientation
that corresponds to either aOoral. To determine the orientation of a spot,
the read system bounces a low-power laser off the spot. The direction of the
polarization rotation put on the reflected beam by the spot 's magnetic orientation
reveals whether the spot is a 0 or a 1.

WRITING TO AN MO DISK

Write beam

Protective layer

Dielectric layer

Recording spot Recording layer

melts past Curie point. ^ '

Dielectric layer

Substrate

magnetic orientation as the

spot cools.

Figure 2: Writing a bit to a magneto-optical disk means setting the magnetic
orientation of a recording spot. The write laser melts the spot, while the underlying
magnet produces afield with the new orientation of the spot. As the spot cools,
it assumes this new orientation.

290 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

i860 CPU!

Parallel Supertomputer Power
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November 12.-16.1990

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I Data and Instruction cacfie on chip (] GB/sec)

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■ Mathgen Formula Compiler

■ Math. -Library

■ Example programs

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Software (optional):

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■ Fortran-Compiler

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Phone: (408) 946-0655
Fax: (408) 946-0980

DSM Digital Service GmbH

Landwehrstrasse 37 ■ 8000 Munich 2, Gernnany
Telex: 523 545 dsm d
Fax: (49 89) 5 51 95-13

1) Under UNIX V/3.2 or OS/2 Circle 119 on Reader Service Card A Division of DSM Digital Service GmbH

STATE OF THE ART
ENTERING A NEW PHASE

to it effectively doubles the write time of
MO drives in relation to other read/write
storage technologies. This performance
handicap makes it unlikely that MO
drives will ever seriously challenge mag-
netic media as your primary mass storage
technology.

Other limitations of MO technology
involve the read/write head. Because the
magnitude of the Kerr rotation is small—
about 1 percent— the head requires rela-
tively large and massive optics to detect
the polarization of the reflected "read"
beam. A massive head is slower to move
across the surface of the disk, resulting in
slower access times. Therefore, although
MO disks spin as fast as magnetic media,
the performance of the drives is two to
four times slower than magnetic drives in
read/write operations, and as much as six
times slower in accessing a particular
spot on the disk.

Direct Write

Phase-change optical storage systems are
pure optical technologies. Unlike MO

systems, where the "write" laser merely
prepares the recording surface for the
data, the "write" laser of a phase-change
system actually writes the data to the
(hsk. The laser itself determines whether
the spot is a 0 or a 1 .

Phase-change technology was first in-
vestigated by Energy Conversion De-
vices (BCD) in the late 1960s. It takes ad-
vantage of the property of a particular
category of thin films to switch between
two stable structural states.

Thin films are a wide-ranging class of
semimetal materials that can be deposit-
ed onto a substrate in very thin layers.
During the deposition process, they are
introduced into a vacuum as a vapor.
With phase-change thin films, vacuum
deposition results in an active layer from
200 to 500 angstroms thick.

The compounds used in phase-change
thin films are based on tellurium or sele-
nium. These elements have the property
of exhibiting both an amorphous state
and a crystalline state. You can switch a
spot in the recording layer between these

two states by the judicious application of
power from a laser.

Tliere and Back Again

Initially, phase-change media exist in the
amorphous state. Changing a spot to the
crystalline state, and changing a crystal-
line spot back to the amorphous state, re-
quires the manipulation of two important
parameters of the recording material: the
glass-transition temperature and the
melting temperature.

The glass-transition temperature is the
point at which an amorphous spot is
changed to the crystalline state. The thin
films developed by ECD switch to the
crystalline state when hit with a short
burst of an 8-milliwatt laser.

The melting temperature is, of course,
the point at which the recording material
melts. The melting temperature is higher
than the crystalline temperature and re-
quires a more powerful (18-mW) laser.
The important feature here is that the re-
cording material doesn't recrystallize as
it cools from the melting temperature;
rather, it cools into the amorphous state.
This process, called revitrification,
gives the phase-change media the ability
to switch directly from amorphous to
crystalline and back again. Direct an 8-
mW laser at a spot, and it turns the spot
crystalline; use an 18-mW laser, and the
spot becomes amorphous (see figure 3).

Note that the original condition of the
spot is immaterial to the results of the
write operation. Say you want to write a 1
to a particular spot, and that the crystal-
line condition corresponds to a 1 . If the
spot is amorphous when you hit it with
the 8-mW laser, it will change to the
crystalline form. If the spot is already
crystalline when you hit it with the 8-
mW laser, it will remain crystalline, be-
cause the laser isn't powerful enough to
melt it.

Likewise, when you want to write a 0,
the higher-powered laser will always
melt the recording material and return it
to the amorphous state, regardless of
whether it was amorphous or crystalline
to begin with.

Reading Material

The ability to change directly from one
state to another is critical to a one-step
read/write technology, but equally im-
portant is the ability of the system to dis-
tinguish between the two states. Luckily,
the amorphous and crystalline states dif-
fer in a very fundamental optical charac-
teristic—they exhibit different reflectivi-
ties. The system determines whether a
spot is a 0 or a 1 by examining the inten-
sity with which the spot reflects a low-

BASICS OF PHASE CHANGE

o o o o

In its original state, a spot in the
phase-change recording layer is
amorphous.

8-mW laser

o ® o o

o ® o o

8-mW laser transforms the dot to the
crystalline state.

18-mW laser

o © o o

o o o o

1 8-mW laser melts the spot. It cools to the
amorphous state.

Figure 3: The remarkable property of phase-change media to change from
amorphous to crystalline at one energy level and from crystalline to amorphous
at a higher level enables the realization of direct optical overwrite.

292 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 169 on Reader Service Card — ►

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display across the entire screen.
In addition. Automatic Frequency Scanning realizes
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Mac or IBM compatible system.

IDEK also offers its new
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as the other members of
the IDEK lineup.

As you can see

complex, IDEK has the Flat Screen Color Monitor that's just right for
you. And priced right, too! See for yourself what a difference a Rat
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Model

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Dot

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MF-5021

15 to 38kHz

0.31

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MF-5121

21 to 50kHz

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1024 X

768

MF-5221

30 to 80kHz

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12806

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30 to 80kHz

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Overseas Division

7th Fl., US Hanzomon BIdg., 2-13, Hayabusa-cho, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 102, Japan

Phone: (81 ) 03-265-6081 Fax; (81) 03-265-6083
IDEK Europe (W. Germany)

Neumannstrasse 38, 6000 Frankfurt a.M. 50, West Germany
Phone: (49) 69-521 922 Fax: (49) 69-521 927

IDEK North America

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Phone: (1) 415-962-9410 Fax: (1) 415-962-9474

Circle 213 on Reader Service Card

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Maplnfo is a trademark of Maplnfo Corp. dBASE is a trademark of Asfiton-Tate.

STATE OF THE ART
ENTERING A NEW PHASE

power "read" laser (see figure 4).

Because the differences in reflectivity
between the amorphous and crystalline
states of phase-change media can be
orders of magnitude greater than the 1
percent change in Kerr rotation detected
by MO systems, the read/write heads of
phase-change systems don't have to be as
sophisticated and sensitive as those of
MO drives. Thus, as the technology ma-
tures, you should see phase-change read/
write heads become less massive than
their MO counterparts. The resuh will
be faster seek and access times.

The Layered Approach

Like an MO disk, a phase-change disk
consists of more than a substrate and a re-
cording layer. Further layers are usually
added to enhance the contrast between
the reflectivity of the two states and to
protect the active layer from outside con-
taminants.

Tellurium, the primary material used
in most phase-change media, crystallizes
below room temperature in its pure form,
making it impossible to use in an every-
day office environment. However, the in-
troduction of small quantities of other
materials, such as germanium and anti-

mony, raises the glass-transition tem-
perature of the alloy above 100 °C.

Future Phases

After two decades in R&D laboratories,
phase-change storage devices are now
available from Matsushita in both Japan
and the U.S., where they are marketed
under the Panasonic brand name (see the
text box "Phase Change Is Real" on page
296). As more manufacturers introduce
phase-change systems and as researchers
make advances in media and optical-
head technologies, you will see a steady
improvement in media durability and
disk access speeds. Given its inherent ad-
vantage over MO technology, phase-
change storage may be the premier opti-
cal storage technology by the middle of
the 1990s.

In the future, phase-change technol-
ogy may also challenge magnetic media
in all but the most speed-intensive appli-
cations. Advances such as very small in-
tegrated optical read/write heads will
greatly decrease access times, and more
durable media will silence doubts about
the reliability of the technology. Given
its already large advantage in costs per K
byte of storage, phase change may be the

READING A PHASE-CHANGE DISK

Read beam Reflected to intensity detectors

Read beam

Reflected to intensity detectors

Figure 4: Unlike magneto-optical drives, which must detect small changes in the
read beam 's polarization, phase-change systems read information by detecting the
relatively large differences in the reflectivity of the amorphous and crystalline states.

294 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

1

Wed

UKETO
SUG6EST A
FEW NEW
CRrTERIA FOR ^
CH00SIN6
FORMS
SOFTWARE.

lb appreciate the benefits of JetForm™ software, we invite
you to first examine tiie subject of business
forms tliemselves. And why every business
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It's because forms are the proven way to
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Naturally, JetForm gives you complete
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industry standard Microsoft® Windows interface. |

But we also give you somethmg else. And
that's a set of capabiUties that turns forms soft-
ware from a handy way to replace pre-printed
forms into a powerful way to run a business.

Which is why you'll find JetForm prints
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And connects more effectively to networks. So both forms and
the information they contain can be better shared and communi-
cated - across departments, or entire organizations. And not just

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I Combined vrith our optional JetForm-

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As years pass, other software makers may discover
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Call 800-267-9976 for complete information on
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THEY'RE MORE THAN JUST FORMS. THEY'RE YOUR BUSINESS.

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Will it handle all
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Including complex
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Just because it
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Call (800) 267-9976 (US only) or (613) 594-3026. Indigo Software Ltd. , 560 Rochester Street, Suite 400, Ottawa, Canada KIS dK2
© 1990 Indigo Software Ltd. JetForm is a trademark of Indigo Software Ltd. AH company and product names are trademarks or roistered trademarks of their respective owners.

Circle 170 on Reader Service Card

Circle 373 on Reader Service Card

Don't invest in interfaces!

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W&T

PRODOGTS

STATE OF THE ART
ENTERING A NEW PHASE

Phase Change Is Real

This spring, Panasonic Communica-
tion & Systems Co. introduced the
LF-7010, the first phase-change optical
storage system available in the U.S. The
LF-7010 is a multifunction drive, capa-
ble of reading and writing Panasonic's
current WORM media as well as its own
phase-change disks.

The LF-7010 uses 5 W -inch media to
store 1 gigabyte of information on a sin-
gle phase-change media cartridge. The
drive can also read and write (once) the
5 W -inch medium that Panasonic's LF-
5010 WORM drive uses. This medium
stores 940 megabytes on each cartridge.
Panasonic plans to install the LF-7010
into an automatic cartridge changer— a
"jukebox"— that will hold up to 50
phase-change and WORM disks for a
maximum capacity of 50 gigabytes.

Pluses and Minuses

This phase-change system features a
data transfer rate to and from the disk
that can reach 10.3 MB per second. It
uses the SCSI-2 interface, making it
compatible with an ever-widening range
of computer hardware. Panasonic rates
it with a mean time between failures of
20,000 hours and a bit-error rate of less
than 10"".

To achieve its impressive storage ca-
pacity, the LF-7010 varies the amount
of data that it stores on each track of the
disk. Longer tracks on the outside of the
disk contain more data than the shorter
tracks on the inside. This provides more
room for data on the disk, but the in-
creased complexity of the disk organiza-
tion slows down access to the data. With
an average seek time of 90 millisec-

onds, the LF-7010 is fast by WORM
standards, but 50 percent slower than
some magneto-optical (MO) drives and
nearly 10 times slower than a high-per-
formance hard disk drive. Obviously,
the LF-7010 isn't ready to become your
primary mass storage device.

Choosing the appropriate balance be-
tween capacity and access speed is a de-
cision every optical-drive manufacturer
must make. Panasonic intends the LF-
7010 for applications, such as docu-
ment-image retrieval and archival stor-
age, that put a premium on capacity as
opposed to speed. Therefore, it made
sense to go with a system that varies the
amount of data per track to take advan-
tage of the longer tracks on the outside
of the disk. There is nothing to prevent
Panasonic from coming out with a faster
drive that stores a fixed amount of data
per track, although such a system prob-
ably wouldn't be compatible with cur-
rent WORM and phase-change media.

Battle Joined

Obviously, the LF-7010 can't compete
with magnetic media as a primary stor-
age technology. However, MO develop-
ers—even those who emphasize access
speed over capacity — will have to take
note of the LF-7010. Its one-pass write
procedure may be enough to offset any
advantage small-capacity MO drives
enjoy in access speed.

As a new technology, the LF-7010 is
a fascinating and welcome develop-
ment. In the marketplace, though, it
won't be judged on the sophistication of
its innards but on the job it does for
users.

optical technology that finally overtakes
magnetic storage. But don't expect that
to happen in this century. (By then, you
may see electron beams used to write
data instead of laser beams, resulting in a
significant increase in the storage den-
sity of the media.)

Perhaps the most important aspect of
phase-change technology is that it uses
the same read method used in CD-ROM
and WORM systems. This will make it
possible to build multifunction optical
drives that can read three of the four
types of optical storage media— MO is
the exception — and write to both WORM
and phase-change disks. The benefits of

such a drive would be enormous.

By offering the high capacity and re-
movability of optical media while elimi-
nating the need to erase the media before
writing, phase change holds a definite
theoretical advantage over MO storage. It
remains to be seen whether Matsushita
and others can translate this advantage
into superior products. However, the
next few years will be a banner time for
the consumers of optical storage devices
as these contending technologies are
pushed to their limits, ■

Bob Ryan is a BYTE technical editor. You
can reach him on BIX as "b. ryan. "

296 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

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Suited Uitiftoif
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whether or not to use a mouse. And it does
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view's been doing it for
over four years now.

People all over the
world are using DESQ-
view to manage custom-
ized work environments like
those showTi here. They are using it to cut
and paste data between programs running

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DESQview lets you run all these programs in multiple windows and multitask
them — all without major modifications to the computer you own nozv. And zvithout
replacing or even upgrading your favorite programs.

in multiple windows, running sorts and
recalculations in the background, and
they're operating in text and graphics
modes in windows side-by-side.

With no drama, no fireworks and no
huge memory or disk space requirements.

In fact, DESQ\dew runs on i486, 80386,
80286 and even 8086 and 8088 PCs. Its
low memory overhead means you don't
have to buy a faster computer and more
RAM to compensate for the demands of ^
a complex, memory-hungry 'graphical'
operating system.

And DESQview builds on and extends
DOS— the most robust, stable operating
system available for your computer

Plus, you don't give up any flexibility
in choosing programs. DESQview runs
virtuaUy all DOS and DOS-extended
programs and Windows programs as well.

No wonder major corporations all over
the world have chosen to standardize on
DESQview.

New DESQview 2.3
gets the most out of
DOS. Even in
Windows.

For a lot of users, what's
exciting about Windows isn't
Windows itself, but some of the
great new programs that use it.
Now you can run those programs
in DESQview 2.3, and keep on
using the unique DOS multitask-
ing windowing capabihties of
DESQv'iew. (On 386 machines,
DESQview 386 2.3 runs Windows
programs side-by-side with 386
DOS-extended programs such as IBM
Interleaf and AutoCAD 386.)

And of course, new DESQview 2.3
gives you all the other great strengths that
made it the favorite of knowlegeable PC
users. Some of our recently added features:
support for mouse menus within mndows;

JU .■ ~
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Professional
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1989

BYTE

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Besi Operating
Hnvironmeni

Some ofDESQview's recent awards.

flexibility for assigning and reassigning
special keys within windows, support for
3270 and other terminal emulation,
support for a wide range of hardware: CD-
ROM, scanners, comm ports, etc. and help
in handling troublesome TSRs. DESQ\'iew
keeps up with software and hardware
developments. As new standards develop,
you'll find us supporting them.

As long as you're using DOS programs,
you need DESQview.

without te

Quarterdeck's family

of products is
designed to enhance
the way you work.

At Quarterdeck, our
mission has always been to
increase your productivity in
logical, economical steps— not
to reinvent a system that
already works for you.

Our best known product,
DESQview, has well over a
million users.

And hundreds of thousands of
people use our QEMM, the
expanded memory manager for
users of 80386 PCs and IBM PS/2'" models
50 and 60 that makes it easy for your
programs to break the 640K memory
barrier (Even within Windows, on 386
machines!)

Our newest products. Quarterdeck
Manifest and QRAM help you understand
and optimize the critical first megabyte of
your PC's memory.

Manifest does for memorv what PC
Tools Deluxe does for disks. It guides you

DESQview Svstem Requirements; IBM Persona! Computer and lOOSc
compatibles (with 8086, 8088, 80286, 80386 or i486 processors) with mono-
chrome or color display; IBM Personal System/2 • Memory; 640K recom-
mended; for DESQ\'iew itself 0-145K Expanded Memory (Optional):
expanded memorv boards compatible with the Intel AboveBoard;
enhanced expanded memory boanas compatible with the AST R-AMpaj^
EMS 4.0 expanded memory' boards • Disk: two diskette drives or one
diskette drive and a hard disk • Graphics Card (Optional): Hercules, IBM
Color/Graphics (CGA). IBM Enhanced Graphics (EGA), IBM PS/2
Advanced Graphics (VGA) • Mouse (Optional); Mouse Svstems,
Microsoft and compatibles • Modem for Auto-Dialer (Optional); Haves
or compatible • Operating System: PC-DOS 2.0-4.0; MS-DOS 2.0-4.0

• Soft^vaie; Most P(I-DOS and'MS-DOS apphcation programs; programs
specific to Microsoft Windows 1.03-3.0, QtU 1.1-3.0, IBM TopVlew 1.1 ■

• Media; DES(3view is available on either 3-7V' or 3-7:'" floppy diskette.

The vast majority of programs run in DESQview — even Windows 3.0 programs!
And some programs take special advantage ofDESQvieiv to enhance their opera-
tion. FNN NewsReal and products using Spreadsheet Sobttions' @DV 'Hot Links',
for example, use windowing, multitasking and interprogram communications.

'under the hood' of your PC, showing how
your memory is being used; even which
parts of RAM are faster You'll see where
TSRs, utilities, drivers and buffers work,
and find all the pockets of idle memory.
QRAM is our memory optimizing

utility that ends 'RAM cram.'
It lets you move drivers,
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idle memory locations 'up
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memory— even if you've
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DESQview, QEMM,
Manifest and QRAM help
you get the most out of the
software and hardware you
own today

To find out more about our family of
productivity enhancement products, mail
in the coupon below wdth the appropriate
boxes checked. Or see your authorized
Quarterdeck dealer

Quarterdeck Office S\-stems, 150 Pico Blvd., Santa Momca, CA 90405 (213) 392-9851 Fax: (213) 399-3802

Trademarks are propert)- of their respective holders: IBM, OS/2, PS/2, j
Interleaf, Top View, Lotus, 1-2-3, Metro, Freelance, AutoCAD, Ventura '
Professional Publisher, PC Tools Deluxe, Intel, 80B6, i486, Abo\-e Board,
AST, RAMpage, Hercules, Mouse Systems, Haves, Miaosoft Windows,
Microsoft Word, GEM, H^N NewsReal, Spreadsheet Solutions.

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Product \' Send Info 5-V4

3-1/

Price Each

Totals

DESQview 386 v2.3 Multitasking windowing environment □

S219.95

DESQview v2.3 Multitasking windowing environment LI

S129.95

QEMM-386 version 5.1 □

S99.95

QEMM-50/60 version 5.0 □

S99.95

ORAM Memorv optimizing utility Q

S79.95

Quarterdeck Manifest Memorv analvzer ^

S59.95

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One little ARCStation
offers lots of angles
on performance.

Vie ARCStation SX is just
6.8cm (H) X 37cm (W) x 38.7cm (D)
yet offers more performance angles
titan nmst big boxes.

-An

aiong an otherwise bland
assortment of network nodes
from which to choose, the
ARCStation SX is unique. It's
the best mix of an inexpen-
sive LAN workstation and a
powerful personal computer.

As a LAN workstation it's
small, thus ideal for data
entry and production in areas
where desktop real estate is
at a premium.

Despite its size, it's fast.
Tl-ieARCStationhas an 80386
SX CPU running at 16MHz,

0 wait state. So, it aids LAN
performance. And, perhaps
most importantly, it's inex-
pensive.

The ARCStation's greatest
feature is... its great features.
Users that require more than
typical LAN nodes offer can
have it in a platfonn consis-
tent with the rest of the net-
work.

The ARCStation has en-
hanced and standard I/O
interfaces already in place.
Any ARCStation SX can be

decked out with up to 8MB
of RAM, an 80387-SX math
coprocessor, 800X600 VGA,
a mouse, and one parallel
and two serial peripheral
devices. Then, if you want,
add two 3.5" half- height disk
drives. A 16-bit IDE hard
disk controller and a floppy
disk controller are built-in.

So if you're building a new
LAN or maintaining an old
one, you can standardize
wdth one workstation plat-
form throughout and still

span the range of user needs.
From the simple, diskless
node to the all-out perform-
ance workstation, ARCSta-
tion SX offers lots of angles.
Ask your ARC dealer about
the ARCStation SX20 and
ARCStation 286 as well.

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STATE OF THE ART
MAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

The Once and
Future King

Hard disk technology: Reports of its death
have been greatly exaggerated

Bob Ryan

In Greek mythology,
Odysseus had to sail a
fine line between Cha-
rybdis and Scylla. To-
day, the same can be said
about hard disk technology,
as it tries to maintain a viable
position between solid-state
and optical technologies. A
safe course depends on the
continued evolution of materi-
als, recording methods, and
storage subsystems.

Solid-state storage has a
speed advantage over hard
disk drives, and optical disks
are capable of storing more
data. With the continued im-
provement in speed, capacity,
and price/performance ratio,
hard disk drives can still re-
main the preferred direct-ac-
cess storage devices. The
challenges, however, are for-
midable.

The Contenders

The idea of using memory chips for di-
rect-access storage is not a new one.
Dedicating a portion of memory to a
RAM disk is a well-known way to in-
crease system performance for disk-in-
tensive activities. In fact, some compa-
nies in the early to mid-1980s were quite
successful selling RAM disk expansion
boards for IBM PCs and Apple lis.
These products were not meant to replace

magnetic storage; you always had to copy
the data they contained to a magnetic
disk before you powered down your com-
puter.

Newer forms of semiconductor mass
storage are intended to replace disk stor-
age. As DRAM densities climb to the 4-
megabit and 16-Mb levels and as the cost
per bit drops, it becomes practical to con-
struct mass storage units that are pri-

marily semiconductor-based.
Such solid-state storage units
have been in use in the main-
frame world for almost a de-
cade, so don't be surprised to
see them migrate to network
servers, workstations, and
even desktop personal com-
puters. While they do include
a magnetic disk for backup in
the event of power loss, solid-
state disks are permanent
storage devices.

Another class of semicon-
ductor devices that is being
used for mass storage is the
flash EPROM. While not as
fast as DRAM, flash
EPROMs hold their data
when you power down (see
"Store Data in a Flash" on
page 311). They thus combine
some of the speed of semicon-
ductor devices with the per-
manence of magnetic media.

The Optical Path

The biggest challenge to magnetic mass
storage comes from optical technologies
such as CD-ROM, WORM (write once,
read many times), and erasable optical
disks. Optical storage is slower than
magnetic primarily because of the great-
er mass of optical read/write heads, but it
offers greater capacity. And because op-
tical-media cartridges are removable,
you can store far more data than the

ILLUSTRATION: JOE CAST © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 301

Your Left Brain Needs Clipper.

Organization is everything in business. The
left side of your brain knows this. It wants order.
Economy. Precision. All reasons your left brain
appreciates Clipper 5.0, the premier application
development system for PCs.

An open architecture programming system,
Clipper provides a flexible environment for devel-
oping precisely the application you need, not a
. messy approximation. Its user-definable commands
and functions let you configure the Clipper language
for your exact requirements. Its compi er generates
.EXE files for rapid execution and cost-free distrib-
ution. Its new linker even lets you build and run
applications larger than available memory! And its
e egant network support yields high performance
on even the largest systems.

So, if you're charged with coaxing order out of chaos
for your business, put Clipper in your programming
arsenal today. It has exactly the programming power
you need!

Clipper, 5.0

Nantucket

213/390-7923

Ask For Department-A

' Circle 238 on Reader Service Card

Nantucket Corporation. 12555 West Jefferson Boulevard. Los Angeles. CA 90066. 213/390-7923 FAX: 213/397-5^69 TELEX. 650-2574125. Nantucket, the Nantucket
logo and Clipper are registered trademarte of Nantucket Corporation. Otfier brand and product names are used for identification purposes only and may Ik trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective holders. Entire contents copyright © 1990 Nantucket Corporation.

STATE OF THE ART
THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING

capacity of the disk would indicate. Disk
changers even alleviate the need to man-
ually swap cartridges.

With semiconductor memory possess-
ing a speed advantage and optical storage
having greater capacity, magnetic disk
storage is being squeezed on both ends.
But advances in all aspects of hard disk
technology, from basic materials to disk
subsystems, ensure that the newcomers
will be shooting at a moving target.

Magnetic Basics

A hard disk drive stores data by magne-
tizing areas on the surface of the disk.
"On" and "off bits are represented by
areas magnetized in opposite directions.
The read/write head is an electromagnet
that writes a bit by magnetizing an area
with the proper orientation. The head de-
termines whether an area represents a 0
or a 1 by the current induced in the head
by the magnetized area.

Hard disk drives store bits on concen-
tric tracks on a disk that spins at 3600
revolutions per minute. To increase the
capacity of a hard disk, you have to in-
crease the number of tracks per inch. To
increase the performance of a drive, you
need to increase the number of bits per
track, which permits more bits to pass
under the head per unit of time. Squeez-
ing more tracks into the same area and
more bits into a track requires both ad-
vanced recording media and high-perfor-
mance read/ write heads.

Media Messages

Until a few years ago, the recording sur-
face of a hard disk was a plastic binder
sprinkled with slivers of gamma ferric
oxide (FcaOa with a particular crystal-
line structure). Given the monolithic fer-
rite heads used at the time, this material
gave very good performance. The prob-
lem with ferric oxide is that it is not co-
ercive enough to let you pack bits and
tracks closely together. Coercivity is a
measure of the field required to reverse
the direction of magnetization of a bit on
the magnetic medium. As you pack bits
closer together, you need very high coer-
civity materials to ensure that a bit won't
be demagnetized or have its magnetiza-
tion reversed by neighboring bits.

Coating the gamma ferric oxide splin-
ters with cobalt doubles their coercivity,
but even this isn't good enough to ensure
a recording density that can compare
with optical densities. Today, most hard
disks are coated with a continuous thin
film that is sputtered or plated onto an
aluminum disk. These films consist of
pure magnetic material, resulting in a
much higher coercivity and a reduction

THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING

Your Right Brain Wants It!

While your left brain duly notes the benefits of
Clipper programming, the right half is wild about how
you get them! Imagine a programming environment
with no limits! The language can be easily extended
with your own routines and you can even integrate
code from other languages, like C and Assembler.
You're always free to configure Clipper to suit your
own programming style.

Hey, let's say you want to read and write data in
some format other than the .dbf structure Clipper
already supports. It's no problem since Clipper 5.0
sports a replaceable database driver, even a lowing
multiple drivers to be used concurrently in the same
application! There's no end to the possibilities you can
pursue with Clipper!

Clipper's open architecture system will fire your
imagination with unparalleled freedom. It's spray
paint for a developer's mind. So, if you want your
imagination to inspire your applications, indulge
yourself with Clipper 5.0. It has everything you need
and anything you'd want.

Clipper 5.0

The Application Development Standard

213/390-7923

Ask For Department-A

in signal noise over ferric oxide coatings.

The most popular materials for mag-
netic thin films are cobalt-nickel alloys.
Unlike ferric oxide, these films contain
no nonmagnetic oxygen. Because the sig-
nal a bit induces in the head is propor-
tional to the media's magnetization, pure
magnetic media will produce better sig-
nal-to-noise ratios than media containing
nonmagnetic material. This is important
when you're packing so many bits to-
gether in a small area.

Another advantage to cobalt is that it is
highly anisotropic: It responds much
more strongly to magnetic fields oriented
along a certain axis. Aligned properly,
cobalt bits are thus highly susceptible to
magnetization from the read/write head
but relatively impervious to magnetiza-
tion from nearby bits. This is one of the
reasons for cobalt's high coercivity.

One problem with thin films is that
they are susceptible to corrosion. Today,
however, hard carbon coatings protect
the recording media from contaminants
and from damage from the read/write
head, which touches the surface of the
disk during starting and stopping.

Metallic thin films are the medium of
choice for today's high-capacity disks
and will remain so for the foreseeable fu-
ture. In fact, it is no longer the medium
that limits the capacity of magnetic stor-
age. The limiting factor is the read/write
head.

Closing the Gap

As today's thin-film media let you pack
more bits per unit area, the bits them-
selves become smaller and, even with
pure magnetic materials, produce small-
er signals. To read a bit on this scale re-
quires a head that has a very small gap
between the poles of the electromagnet;
otherwise, the fields from adjacent bits
would interfere with the signal. It must
also be sensitive enough to detect the
weaker signals from the smaller bits.

Even before thin films were used on
recording media, they were the materials
of choice for read/write heads. Their an-
isotropic properties help ensure that the
signal they read is from the target bit
only. The ability of drive manufacturers
to construct heads that fly as little as 100
nanometers above the disk is also criti-
cal, because a closer head also has a bet-
ter chance to read the weaker signals
from smaller, higher-density bits.

Beyond Induction

Despite the advantages of thin-film
heads over the older ferrite heads, the
limiting factor that keeps the bit density
of magnetic disks below that of optical

Circle 239 on Reader Service Card

NantuckelCorporation. 12555 West Jefterson Boulevard, Los Angeles. CA 90066. 2m9Q*7923 FAX: 213/397-5469 TELEX: 650-2574125 NanluckeMtie Nantucket
logo and Clipper are registered Irademarte of Nantucket Corporation. Ottier brand and product names are used for identification purposes only and may be trademark or
registered trademarks of tfieir respective holders. Entire contents copyrigtit ® 1990 Nantucket Corporation.

STATE OF THE ART
THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING

disks is the difficulty in reading closely
packed magnetic bits. Heads that read by
induction have a harder time reading
smaller bits, because the intensity of the
signals induced by such bits drops linear-
ly with the size of the bits.

Last year, the IBM Magnetic Record-
ing Institute (San Jose, CA) demon-
strated a noninductive magnetic head ca-
pable of reading bit densities as great as
1.8 million bits per square millimeter.
This is almost triple the data density of
most popular magneto-optical drives.

The demonstration drive used a mag-
neto-resistive head to read the tightly
packed bits. This head uses a thin-film
element containing a single magnetic
domain strung between two electrical
leads. The resistance of the element
changes as the angle of its magnetization
does. The angle, in turn, changes as the
element passes over the different bits in
the recording layer. Because different
polarities in the bits produce different
angles of magnetization, which in turn
produce different resistances across the
element, the head reads the data by moni-
toring a current passed through the ele-
ment.

Although no production drive uses
magneto-resistive read heads, this dem-
onstration proves that magnetic media
have a lot of life left. The density advan-
tages of optical drives may not be as great
in upcoming years.

Other technologies that may affect the
density of magnetic media in the years to
come include the metal-in-gap heads,
first popularized in Sony 8-mm video-
tape decks, and perpendicular record-
ing, which produces vertically oriented
magnetic domains on the media. See the
text box "Side by Side" for more on per-
pendicular recording.

System Advances

While advances in basic technology con-
tinue to contribute to the speed and ca-
pacity of hard disk drives, advances in
other areas of hard disk systems also con-
tribute to the vitality of the media.

Perhaps the most common way to
speed up hard disk access is to couple a
hard disk drive with a cache of fast semi-
conductor memory. Recently, control-
lers with caches of 1 MB, 2 MB, and
even 4 MB have become common on
workstations and high-end personal
computers. These controllers combine
many advantages of semiconductor mem-
ory with the safety and permanence of
hard disk storage.

Beyond simple caching, many compa-
nies are producing hard disk systems for
personal computers that rival those in

Side by Side

Bill Passavanti

Recent technology advances have
brought about a new generation of
higher-capacity floppy disk drives.
Among these, perpendicular recording,
a technology developed by Toshiba,
uses a new material— barium ferrite—
on the recording media. Unlike conven-
tional oxide media in which particles
are magnetized horizontally, or parallel
to the recording surface of the disk, bar-
ium ferrite particles are magnetized
vertically, or perpendicular to the re-
cording surface (see figure A).

With the particles in the recording
media arranged more closely together,
you can store more bits in the same lin-
ear space, thus increasing data capacity.
Data particles take less room when you
line them up side by side instead of end
to end. Bit density increases from the
17,434 bits per inch you get on a con-
ventional 2-megabyte floppy disk to
34,768 bpi, resulting in a 4-MB storage
capacity and a fast 1-megabit-per-sec-
ond data transfer rate.

In addition to increasing data storage
capacity, perpendicular recording also
improves data integrity. Since the parti-
cles are magnetized vertically, there is a
sharp magnetic transition between the
particles. Even high densities maintain
this transition to clearly define each
data bit. This orientation minimizes
peak shift and reduces coercivity (see
figure B). With conventional floppy
disk recording, increasing the bit den-
sity crowds the particles, thereby reduc-
ing the magnetic -transition space, blur-
ring bit transitions, and increasing peak
shift.

The barium ferrite that is used in per-
pendicular recording also improves data
integrity. Since barium ferrite particles
are flat platelets, they provide a relative-
ly flat data surface. Consequently, a
strong, continuous read signal is in-
duced in the read/write head when you
read the data (see figure C). Converse-
ly, conventional floppy disks exhibit a
read signal that fluctuates between
strong and weak because of the magne-
tization and shape characteristics of the
media particles.

To accommodate perpendicular re-
cording, the drive is engineered using
some conventional drive components

combined with new and modified ele-
ments. Changes to the perpendicular-
recording drive include a narrower gap
on an otherwise conventional ferrite-
ring read/write head; modified read/
write electronics to accommodate the
higher data rate; and a full-track-width
erase head that provides the full, deep
erasure required in a perpendicular-
recording system.

While offering both performance and
storage capacity improvements over
conventional floppy disk technology,
perpendicular recording promises to
continue the tradition of cost-effective
storage that has made present-day flop-
py disk drive technology so popular.
The use of conventional and readily
available drive components, combined
with the ability to manufacture the bari-
um ferrite media in high quantities with
the use of existing coating facilities, has
kept the cost of perpendicular recording
low compared to other new floppy disk
technologies.

Another element that makes perpen-
dicular recording cost-effective is
downward compatibility. Perpendicu-
lar-recording floppy disk drives will
allow you to read and write data using
disks formatted by conventional 1-MB
and 2-MB drives. Therefore, you can
upgrade your system without rendering
your existing floppy disks obsolete:
Your data remains accessible while you
gain in performance and storage ca-
pacity.

Future changes in servo technology
that will allow for more precise posi-
tioning of the read/write head will bring
about capacity increases in perpendicu-
lar-recording systems of up to 32 MB in
the next couple of years. Ultimately,
barium ferrite technology will store as
much as 64 MB of data on a single flop-
py disk, providing higher storage capac-
ity along with the cost-effective, vol-
ume-manufacturing characteristics that
are required of floppy disk drives.

Bill Passavanti is vice president of mar-
keting for floppy disk drives with the
Disk Products Division of Toshiba
America Information Systems (Irvine,
CA). He can be reached on BIX do
"editors. "

304 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ART
THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING

Figure A: In the barium ferrite
medium (left), particles are
magnetized vertically— perpendicular
to the recording surface. In the
conventional oxide medium (right),
particles are magnetized
horizontally, which takes more room.

DIFFERENCE IN MAGNETIC LAYER

Easy axis Easy axis

Barium-ferrite medium

Conventional medium

Figure B: Since the barium ferrite
particles (top) are magnetized
vertically, there is a sharp magnetic
transition between the particles, even
at high densities. This is in contrast
to the conventional oxide particles
(bottom).

COMPARISON OF RECORDING METHODS

Magnetic
layer — »•

Magnetic
layer — »

Flux

N

S

N

s

N

t

t

\

t

S

N

S

N

Perpendicular recording

Longitudinal recording

Magnetization

Magnetization

Figure C: Barium ferrite particles
are flat platelets and provide a
relatively flat data surface and a
strong, continuous read signal (left).
However, the media particles of
conventional floppy disks exhibit
different magnetization and shape
characteristics and a fluctuating
read signal (right).

OUTPUT ENVELOPE

Perpendicular
orientation

In-plane
(Jz:;) orientation
(coating
direction)

\ (\ A n j\ (\ r Modulation

I V/ w \! \j

Barium-ferrite floppy disk

Conventional floppy disk

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 305

STATE OF THE ART
THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING

STORAGE HIERARCHY

Figure 1: The relationship between access speed and capacity: The fastest
technologies have the smallest capacity; the slowest technologies have the largest
capacity. The pyramid makes a rough correlation between the height of each block
and the percentage of each type of storage present in a typical system.

mainframe systems for complexity and
storage. Earlier this year, Zenith intro-
duced a new hard disk drive controller
with its Z-386/33E. This controller is de-
signed to minimize the amount of time
spent waiting for a read/write head to
seek the proper track and sector.

The Zenith controller can detect the
current location of a read/write head and
determine the distance between the head
and the data it has to access. In a single-
drive system, this isn't very helpful, but
in a multiple-drive system, the controller
can determine which head is closest to its
destination. The controller can then initi-
ate data transfer from that head first.

The Zenith controller is designed to
increase the performance of multidrive
systems. Another advanced controller,
the Intelligent Disk Array found in the
Compaq Systempro, is designed with
fault tolerance in mind. The Systempro
supports up to four pairs of hard disk
drives. Each drive has its own control
cable, and each pair shares a data cable.
The controller is thus able to read data

from all four disk pairs at once. The IDA
maximizes the benefits of this arrange-
ment by using sector striping.

In sector striping, sequential data sec-
tors are not arranged contiguously on a
disk. Instead, the sectors are spread
across the eight disks in the system. This
is a big plus because the system can read
multiple disks at one time. Thus, it can
read different parts of a file from differ-
ent disks at the same time.

Of course, sector striping can be a
curse if one of the drives on the system
goes down. Suddenly, every file on your
system is missing some sectors. The IDA
provides two solutions: mirroring and
data guarding.

With mirroring, the system keeps a
mirror image of each disk on a second
disk. When one drive goes down, the
backup kicks in. This is effective, but it
eats up half of your storage capacity.

Data guarding is more complex but
takes up less space. It takes 25 percent of
your disk space to store a combined
image of the disks in the system. Every

time you write a byte to a disk, the corre-
sponding byte on the other disks is read.
The system combines the bytes with an
exclusive-OR and writes them to a spe-
cial area. If a drive fails, you simply read
the bytes from the other disks and per-
form an XOR on them to recover the
missing data. The IDA can perform this
data recovery in the background.

The Storage Hierarchy

Advances in recording materials, heads,
and controller subsystems will ensure
that magnetic-disk storage keeps up with
its solid-state and optical cousins. How-
ever, these alternative technologies will
find a place on an increasing number of
desktops, not as replacements for mag-
netic disk storage, but as adjuncts.

The different types of direct-access
computer storage, from main memory to
WORM drives, fall into a pyramidal hi-
erarchy (see figure 1). At the top are
memory caches and main memory. As
you go down the pyramid, you encounter
storage technologies that offer increased
capacities but slower access times.

Until recently, hard disk technology
was unchallenged in the field of perma-
nent direct-access storage. For most peo-
ple, it continues to be their only form
of permanent storage (other than floppy
disks). However, as personal computer
systems increase in size and complexity,
optical and solid-state storage will see
their share of the pyramid increase.
Rather than being the only show in town,
magnetic media will share storage duties
with other technologies better suited to
certain applications.

One of those applications is archival
storage. Hard disk drives are simply too
expensive to waste on archival storage.
Why should you pay for sub-lO-millisec-
ond access to data you retrieve once a
month, if that often? Archival storage de-
mands capacity, not speed, so it is an
ideal domain for erasable optical disks,
WORM disks, and magnetic tape.

The Main Squeeze

The future of magnetic media is not in
doubt; it will remain your most impor-
tant form of permanent storage. But you
will increasingly see it augmented by
other forms of storage (e.g., solid-state
for very fast storage, and optical for
high-capacity archival storage).

Magnetic media will be squeezed on
both ends by these alternate technol-
ogies, but it's doubtful that it will ever be
squeezed out of the storage pyramid. ■

Bob Ryan is a BYTE technical editor. You
can reach him on BIX as "b.ryan. "

306 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

\ y \ N\ \ t

I

i.

\ \

/ // TRANSIENT ANALYStS j 8£H^Y^0R^V -V- Hs.OIO«lS. \ V^=^\

/ 1 3 — \

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Schematic editor

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Circle 319 on Reader Service Card

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pro 386/25E 300MB $8450

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Portable III 20MB/40MB $ 3350/3950.

Portable 386 40MB/1 00MB $ 4750/5550.

MONITORS

SAMSUNG

1257 Amber (12' 720x350) $ 74.

1464 RGB (14' 640x200) $ 205.

1453 EGA (14" 690x350) $319.

VGA (14" 720x580) $ 349.

NEC

Multisync 2A 14" (800x600) VGA $ 460.

MultisyncGS14"Mono $CALL

Multisync3D 14- (1024x768) EGAVGA $ 580.

Multisync 4D 16" (1024x768) .28DP $3ALL

Multisync5D20' (1280x1024) .31DP $CALL

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VIDEO CARDS

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Mono Graphics w/Printer Port $ 34.

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HARDWARE

AT12MHZ(exp4meg0wait) $165.

XT10MHZTurbo(exp.0wai^ $ 69.

Power Supply 200 Watt $ 49.

Power Supply 150 Watt $ 39.

XTCase (w/hardware) $ 34.

Baby AT Case (w/hardware) $ 52.

ATCase (Full Size) $ 59.

Keyboard 84 Key (tactile touch) $ 40.

Keyboard 1 01 key (tactile touch) $ 54.

Multi I/O Card $ 34.

Floppy Controller Card $ 21.

FHDC (1 .44/1.2/720K/360Hg $ 45.

ATI/0 $ 32.

Serial Card $ 20.

Parallel Card $ 20.

Game Card $ 20.

LAPTOPS- continued

ZENITH LAPTOPS

Minisport 2MB RAM NOTE BOOK $CALL

Supersport 184 $1150.

Supersport 184-2 ■ $1650.

Supersport 286 20MB $2450

Supersport 286 40MB $2650

386SX 40MB $3850.

NEC UPTOPS

Prospeed 286 20MB $1650

Prospeed 286 40MB $2425.

Prospeed 386SX $2650.

Prospeed 386 40MB $3550.

HARD DISK DRIVES

SEAGATE

20MB 65MSST225W/XT Controller $ 229.

20MB 35MSST125W/XT Controller $ 299.

30MB 65MSST238W/XT Controller $ 239.

30MB 35MSST138w/Xr Controller $ 345.

40MB28MSST251-1 $ 339.

80MB 28MSST4096 Full Height $ 535.

HARD DRIVE CARDS

XT MFM gOmg Controller) $ 55.

XTRLL27x(30mgContro[lert $ 59.

AT MFM 2:1 Controller $ 79.

AT MFM 1:1 Controller $105.

ATRLL 1:1 Controller $110.

FLOPPY DISK DRIVES

TOSHIBA

360K5.25"HH Black $ 59.

720K 3,5" HHw,5.25" Mount $ 64.

1.2MB 5.25' HH Grey $ 69.

1.44MB 3.5" HH Grey w/5.25" Mount $ 75.

TEAC

360K5.25"HH Black $ 59.

720K 3.5- HHwC.25" Mount $ 64.

1.2MB 5.25" HH Grey $ 69.

1.44MB3.5"HH Grey w,'5.25" Mount $ 75.

FUJITSU

360K5.25 $ 59.

1.2,5.25 $ 69.

SONY

720K3,5 $ 64.

1.44,3.5 $ 75.

MODEMS

Mastercom - 1200B (internal) $ 44.

Mastercom - 2400B (internal) $ 75.

US Robotics, Courier HSTS600B $ 615.

SOFTWARE

WordPerfect 5.1 $CALL

Lotus 1-2-32.2/3.0 $CALL

MicrosoftALL $CALL

MOUSE

Genius Mouse, GM6X $ 35.

Genius Mouse F301 $ 60.

Logitech Mouse C9 $CALL

INTEL

ALLCaPROCESSORS $$CALL

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Choose I.S.C. for Outstanding Service, Quality & Pricing!

•6/12 MHz Motherboard

• 80286 CPU

• Norton Si Rating 15.3
•0 Wait State

• 1,2MB High Capacity Floppy

• 1 Meg l=iAM Expandable to 4 MB

• Serial PortParallel Port

• 1.2MB Floppy Controller

• 8 Expansion Slots
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•200 Watt Power Supply
•AT Style Keyboard

• Mono Card/Parallel Port

• Monxhrome Amber Monitor

$675.

XT Power System

•4.77/10 MHz Motherboard

•8088-10 CPU
•(1)360K Floppy Drive

• 640/K RAM/Floppy Controller
■ 8 Expansion Slots

• 1 50 Watt P.S./AT Style Keyboard

• Serial/Paralleldock & Game Port

• Mono Card/Parallel Port

• Monxhrome Amber Monitor

•16 MHz Motherboard

•80386SXCPU

• 1 Meg RAM (80 nsec.) Installed
•1.2MB or 1.44MB Floppy Drive

• 2 Serial Ports

• 1 Parallel Port

• 80387SX Co- processor Socket

• Floppy Drive Controller

• Hard Drive Controller

• 8 Expansion Slots
•5-16 8113-8 Bit

• RAM Upgradable to 8 Meg
•200 Watt Power Supply

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• Mono Card/Parallel Port

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• AC Power Pad

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•20/25 MHz Motherboard

•80386 CPU

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• 1 Meg RAM/Upgrade to 8 Meg

• 1 .2MB/1 .44 High Capacity Drives

• 2 Serial Ports/1 Parallel Port

• 80387 Co-processor Socket

• FloppyHard Drive Controller

• 8 Expansion Slots
•2-32 Bit 5-16 Bit. 1-8 Bit
•230 Watt Power Supply

• 101 Key Enhanced Keyboard

• Clock/Calendar w/ Battery Backup

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• AC Power Pad

$
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1,275. 20MHz

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•33 MHz Motherboard

• 64K Cache Memory
•80386 CPU

• AMI Bios

• 1 Meg RAM (80 nsec) Installed

• 1 .2MB/1.44 High Capacity Drives

• 2 Serial Ports / 1 Parallel Port

• 80387 Co-processor Socket

• Floppy/Hard Drive Controller

• 8 Expansion Slots
•2-32 Bit. 5-16 8111-8 Bit

• RAM Upgradable to 8 Meg
•230 Watt Power Supply

• 101 Key Enhanced Keyboard

• ClockjCalendarw/ Battery Backup

• Mono Card.Parallel Port

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• AC Power Pad

$ 1,749.

•25 MHz Motherboard

• 80486 CPU

• AMI Bios

• 4 Meg RAM

• 1 .2MB/1.44 High Capacity Drives

• 2 Serial Ports

• 1 Parallel Port

• 80487 Co-processor Socket

• Floppy/Hard Drive Controller

• 8 Expansion Slots
•2-32 Bit 5-16 Bit. 1-8 Bit

• RAM Upgradable to 16 Meg
•230 Watt Power Supply

• 101 Key Enhanced Keyboard

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• ClockCalendar w/ Battery Backup

• AC Power Pad

$ 3,900.

$459.

HARD DRIVE OPTIONS

20MB Seagate Hard Drive .... SI 75.

30MB Seagate Hard Drive .... $185.

40MB Seagate Hard Drive .... S339.

80MB Seagate Hard Drive .... S525.

MONITOR OPTIONS

Monochrome Amber Monitor

Mono Card/Parallel Port $108.

EGA Monitor

EGA Card $419.

VGA Monitor

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Circle 185 on Reader Service Card

The joy of C-scape

The C-scape^" Interface
Management System is a flexible
library of C functions for data entry
and validation, menus, text editing,
context-sensitive help, and windowing.
C-scape's powerful Look & FeeF"
Screen Designer lets you create full-
featured screens and automatically
generates complete C source code.

C-scape includes easily modifiable high-
level functions as well as primitives to
construct new functions. Its object-
oriented design helps you build more
functional, more flexible, more portable,
and more unique apphcations — and
you'll have more fun doing it.

The industry standout. Many

thousands of software developers world-
wide have turned to the pleasure of

i C-scape. The press agrees:
I "C-scape is by far the best.

j'CSt ■ ■ ■ ^ j°y

/ > IEEE Computer. M^or
companies have selected C-scape as a
standard for software development.

C-scape's open architecture lets you use
it with data base, graphics, or other C
and G— libraries. C-scape runs in text or
graphics mode, so you can display text
and graphics simultaneously 'To port
from DOS or OS/2 to UNIX, AIX, QNX, or
VMS, just recompile, C-scape also

Elegant graphics and text

Graphics. Run in color in text or graphics mode.
Read images from PCX files.

Object-oriented architecture. Add custom
features and create reusable code modules. C-*
compatible.

Mouse support. Fully-integrated mouse support for
menu selections, data entry fields, and to move and
resize windows.

Portability. Hardware independent code. Supports
DOS, OS/2, UNIX, AIX, VMS, others. Autodetects
Hercules, CGA, EGA, VGA. Supports Phar Lap and
Rational DOS extenders.

Text editing. Text editors with word wrap, block
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Field flexibility. Masked, protected, marked,
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Windows. Pop-up, tiled, bordered and exploding
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Menus. Pop-up, pull-down, 123-styie, or slug menus;
create your own.

Context-sensitive help. Link help messages to
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Code generation. Build any type of screen or form
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Screen flexibility. Call screens from files at run
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International support. Offices in Berlin. Germany,
with an international network of technical companies
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supports Phar Lap and Rational DOS
extenders.

Trial with a smile, c -scape is

powerful, flexible, portable, and easy to
tiy. Test C-scape for 30 days. It offers a
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Call 800-233-3733 (6I749I 7311 in
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DOS, OS/2 (Borland and Microsoft
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BY1190

Oakland Group, Inc. 675 Massachusetts .\ve., Cambridge, MA 021:39 ISA. FAX: 617-868-4440. Oakland Group, GmbH. Alt Moabit 91-B, D-1000 Berlin 21, F.R.G.
(0:30) :391 .504.5, FAX: (0.30) 39:3 4398. Oakland International Technical Network (training, support, consulting): Australia Noble Systems (02) 564-1200: Benelux TM
Data (02159) 46814: Denmark Ravenholm (042) 887249: Austria-Germany-Switzerland ESM 07127/5244: Norway Ravenholm (02) 448855: Sweden Linsoft (01:3) 111588;
U.K. Systemstar (0992) 500919. Photo by .Jessica A. Boyatt: Karyi by K^i Aso. Picture shows a C-scape program combining data entry with \ideo images loaded from PCX
fdes, C-scape and Lool( & Feel are trademarks of Oal<land Group, Inc.; other trademarks belong to their respective companies. Copyright © 1990, by Oakland Group, Inc.
Features, prices, and terms subject to change.

Circle 267 on Reader Service Card

STATE OF THE ART
MAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

Store Data
in a Flash

Flash-memory ICs offer new options
for personal computer storage

Walter Lahti and Dean McCarron

Normally, you'd
think of a flash
flood as a natural
disaster, some-
thing that could pick you up
and carry you away. But the
flood of flash memory that is
about to reach the personal
computer world will be a pos-
itive event. It will carry the
power to expand the reaches
of personal computing.

Flash memory is a nonvola-
tile memory IC. Born of the
blending of EPROM and
EEPROM, the flash IC is
functionally and technologi-
cally the offspring of these
parents (see the text box "Do
You Remember?" on page
312). It is reportedly named
for the speed with which it
can be reprogrammed.

While flash and EPROM
memory cells usually contain
a single transistor, a DRAM
cell typically contains a tran-
sistor and a capacitor, an EEPROM cell
two transistors, and a static RAM
(SRAM) cell four or six transistors. Ob-
viously, the more cells, the more real es-
tate (silicon) a memory requires. And
real estate is always expensive.

Advantages of Flash

Flash's two significant attributes, non-
volatility and DRAM-like speed, are

ideal for solid-state "disk" drives. Flash-
based disks are very fast compared to
most available disk drives (see figure 1).
In 120 nanoseconds, you can access data
stored in flash memory, while it takes 15
to 30 milliseconds to access data stored
on today's typical hard disk. In some im-
plementations, such as in portable com-
puters, the speed advantage of flash over
disk drives is even greater.

Today, a personal com-
puter's hard disk drive is one
of its most power-hungry
components. When you use a
desktop machine, you may
not notice this power con-
sumption. But the power a
battery-operated portable can
supply is limited— and hard
disk drives use up that power
quickly. Most portables today
require fairly sophisticated
power management facilities
to extend the amount of time
the machine can be used.

A portable's power man-
agement facility often turns
off the hard disk drive if it
isn't being used. While this is
great for extending a porta-
ble's limited battery life, it is
terrible for performance.
When the power comes back
on, the disk drive's motor can
take several seconds to bring
it up to speed before disk I/O
can begin. A flash-based disk
needs no warm-up. When you turn on the
power, the data is immediately available.
With no waiting, you experience no loss
in performance.

In addition to achieving power savings
from an "instant-on" flash disk, you also
realize savings from not having to oper-
ate power-hungry motors and servos. A
1 -megabyte flash disk requires a maxi-
mum of only 1.2 watts while operating.

ILLUSTRATION: JOE GAST © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 311

STATE OF THE ART
STORE DATA IN A FLASH

Do You Remember?

There are two kinds of memory: vol-
atile and nonvolatile. Memory such
as DRAM is called volatile if it forgets
what it had stored when you turn off
your computer's power. Memory such
as ROM is called nonvolatile if it retains
its data whether or not your computer's
power is on. As all users who have ever
turned off their computers before saving
files to disk can tell you, the DRAM
used in your personal computer to store
programs and data cannot retain infor-
mation without power.

DRAM, however, is reprogram-
mable; the information it contains can
be changed. When you load a new file,
the new information replaces the old.
ROM, though, is not reprogrammable—
the programs and data in ROM are per-
manent, and you can't change them.

In the early 1970s, the only semicon-
ductor memory available was DRAM,
its cousin static RAM — which is also
volatile— and ROM. The choices open
to computer designers were using mem-
ory that was reprogrammable but lost
information without power, and using
memory that always retained informa-
tion but could never be changed. What
designers really needed was memory
that could be reprogrammed in the sys-
tem and that also retained its contents
when the power was off.

A few years after DRAM became
available, a new kind of memory known
as electrically programmable read-only
memory, or EPROM, was introduced.
EPROM is reprogrammable and non-
volatile. But it has one drawback. In
order to reprogram EPROM chips, you
have to remove them, expose them to
high-intensity ultraviolet light for as
long as 20 minutes, reprogram them,
and then replace them in your computer.
Thus, EPROM fell short of being the
ideal memory. Today, because vendors
find them easier to program, EPROM
chips are largely used as replacements
for your personal computer's ROM.

Electrically erasable programmable
read-only memory, or EEPROM, was
introduced in the late 1970s. EEPROM

The lowest-power hard disk drives today
require about 3 W.

The fact that flash-based disks have no
moving parts carries with it yet another
advantage— reliability. While hard disk

Psion uses four Intel 1-Mb
flash-memory ICs in its credit-card-
size solid-state disk.

(like EPROM) is reprogrammable and
nonvolatile, and it can also be easily re-
programmed within the computer.

Still, there are drawbacks. EEPROM
is slow and expensive and doesn't hold
very much data. Today, you can store 1
megabit of data in an ordinary DRAM
chip. You can access the data in 80
nanoseconds, and it costs $5. In con-
trast, it takes 150 ns to access a 1-Mb
EEPROM, which costs S265.

In the mid-1980s, Toshiba Semicon-
ductor invented flash memory. About
the same time, Intel and Seeq Semicon-
ductor were also working on flash mem-
ory. While each manufacturer built its
flash memory differently, they operate
similarly.

Like both EPROMs and EEPROMs,
flash memory is nonvolatile and repro-
grammable. But it has none of the faults
of these other types of memory. Unlike
EEPROM, it is inexpensive: Today, a
1-Mb flash memory costs about $15.
Unlike EPROM, flash memory can be
reprogrammed electrically while it is
embedded in the system— either by you
or via system software.

Still, one drawback remains. With
DRAM, you can change a single bit at a
time, but with flash memory, you can
change only a sector (consisting of mul-

drives have become remarkably tough,
on occasion they still do crash.

Flash-based storage is very reliable be-
cause a flash disk is as tough as the rest of
the electronic hardware in a personal

tiple bytes) at a time. While constraints
of sector-level reprogrammability pre-
vent it from replacing your computer's
DRAM, flash memory is well suited to
other applications.

The type of storage that hard and
floppy disk drives provide resembles
that of flash memory. Disks are non-
volatile—they hold onto data with or
without power. And disks are repro-
grammable—you can change the files
whenever you want to. The similarities
between flash memory and disk storage
led to the building of "disks" based on
the concept of flash memory.

A flash disk isn't a disk drive at all;
there are no disks or moving parts. A
flash disk is a set of flash-memory parts
mounted in a credit-card-size package
that acts as a hard disk. This same set of
parts could be mounted on a board in-
side a machine. The difference between
the two is that one is removable storage
and one is fixed storage. A flash disk
emulates a disk drive.

A flash disk is built from one or more
flash-memory ICs and some controlling
logic devices. For example, to build a
5 12K-byte flash disk, you could connect
four 1-Mb flash-memory ICs and place
them on a small card. Psion has used
this principle with its flash disk (see the
photo).

Flash disks operate fairly simply. At
the hardware level, the computer simply
sends digital read or write signals to the
disk with the address of the information.
If it is a read signal, the disk responds
with the requested information. If it is a
write signal, the disk takes information
from the computer and stores it.

In addition to flash-disk hardware,
you also need software to manage the
files on a flash disk. This file-system
software handles creating and deleting
files, changing the file sizes, and for-
matting the flash disk. Microsoft has
worked with Intel to create the Micro-
soft flash file system, a standard MS-
DOS-compatible flash-disk interface
that makes it much easier for vendors to
use flash disks in their computers.

computer. It takes a lot for a flash disk to
fail: The flash memory must be damaged
physically, through destruction of the de-
vice package, or electrically, by an ex-
treme electric shock or a power spike.

312 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ART
STORE DATA IN A FLASH

Disadvantages of Flash

Flash memory's extremely high speed,
low power, and high reliability would
seem to make it the ideal storage technol-
ogy. Unfortunately, there are two signif-
icant drawbacks to flash disks. The most
severe limitation is its cost. A conven-
tional 40-MB hard disk drive costs about
$320, or $8 per megabyte. Today, a 1-
megabit flash IC costs $15. Eight flash
ICs are needed per megabyte of flash
disk, making a flash disk cost about $120
per megabyte.

Thus, you would have to pay about
$4800 for a 40-MB flash disk, or about
15 times what an ordinary hard disk
drive would cost. Because of this present
inequality, the first mass-produced
flash-based disks probably will store less
than 40 MB. In the future, flash-based
disk prices will certainly decline, mak-
ing large amounts of flash-disk storage
more affordable. In a few years, you
should only have to pay about $600 for a
40-MB flash disk.

The other problem with flash disks is
that they can't compare with hard disks
in density. The highest-density flash
memory available today stores 2 Mb per
IC— you would need 160 of these ICs to
produce a 40-MB disk. Like all memo-
ries, flash memory is expected to grow in
density, so eventually far fewer ICs will
be needed.

Two Flavors

Manufacturers currently offer flash de-
vices in two programming flavors: those
that require a 5-volt power supply, and
those that require a 12-V supply. With
both erasure and programmability possi-
ble at 5 V, only one power supply is re-
quired at the system level. The benefits of
this feature are reduced system-compo-
nent cost and space savings. Thus, flash
is ideal for portable-computing applica-
tions.

The 5-V flash cell is generally a mod-
ified two-transistor (or split-gate) deriva-
tive of EEPROM and is packaged with a
different pin-out than the 12-V varieties.
Five-volt programming lets a system
interface with the device in much the
same way it would with SRAM. There-
fore, for some applications, a flash de-
vice can replace SRAM, particularly in
systems that use SRAM with battery
backup.

While both 12-V and 5-V flash mem-
ory can be used as an SRAM replace-
ment, the 5-V feature becomes more de-
sirable for portable equipment where no
external 12-V power is available and the
addition of a 12-V power supply is not
feasible.

Figure 1: Flash
disks are 125,000
to 250,000 times
faster than today 's
hard disk drives.
However, they are
limited to up to 40
MB in capacity,
whereas hard disk
drives can store
from 5 MB to 1
gigabyte.

MASS STORAGE COMPARISON

10

10"

§10"^

o

o

E

S3 10-1-

o
o

<

10°
1

Semiconductor technology

Flash disk

Disk technology

CD-ROM

Magneto-optical

Tape technology
Paper tape
Qi- [^ Pu nched cards

— I —
0.1

dAt

10

100

1000

storage capacity (megabytes)

Ideal for Laptops and Palmtops

Laptop and notebook computers are the
ideal applications for flash disks. With
current hard disk drives, you must carry

around heavy batteries, deal with short
amounts of work time, or suffer from
hard disk drives operating at floppy disk
drive speeds. Flash disks will answer all

Microsoft malss sure
you fly realistically It's up to
you to fly responsibly

So you get an urge to
buzz the Golden Gate Bridge.
Okay. You can ignore the
FAA-but not the crosswinds.
Because in the world of
Microsoft' Flight Simulator'
40, everything that happens
is true to life.

Banking, climbing or
dodging thunderheads, your plane responds with perfect realism
to your every move. Plus, you have 100,000,000 square miles of
land to fly over. And four planes to choose from: a Cessna, a Lear
Jet, a sailplane, or a dogfighter's dream-the Sopwith Camel.
Ask your Microsoft dealer about PC Flight Simulator.
Take it into the air. And m^-^^^ g-
find out what they really mean fMiCfOSOft
by "the wild blue yonder." Making it all mate sense'

For more information, call (800) 541-1261. Dept. M5L Customers in Canada, call (416) 673-7638. Outside Sorth America, call (206) 882-8661. © 1990 Microsoft
Corporation. All ri^s reserved. Microsoft and the Microsoft logo are re^tered trademarks a/iif Making it all make sense is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
Flight Simulator is a registered trademark ofSubLOGlC Corporation, used under license by Microsoft C

NOVEMBER 1990 - BYTE 313

1

Mylex has the best EISA solution.
At least that's what people tell us.

SCSI Caching Host Adapter

TI 34020"^ Graphics Controller

"The Mylex MAE 486 with its
32-bit EISA SCSI controller
kills the competition for reading
large sequential files in the lOBench 2 tests

under UNIX." Personal Workstation. June 1990

Ethernet LAN Adapter

"The GXE020A TIGA board
...scored as much as 45
percent higher on our low-
level benchmark tests than any other
TIGA board evaluated." byte, April 1990

"If I wanted to replace my entire
system for optimum all-around
performance, I'd build it from Mylex
EISA-based boards."

Personal Workstation, June 1990

"Mylex has done a lot of work tvith EISA,
and we plan to use its motherboard and
adapters in a LAN Labs 'super-AT' server.

PC Magazine, May 1990 Visit us at COIVI DEX/Fal I

Las Vegas Hilton
Booth #H7368

Of course, we've tested our EISA peripherals for compatibility with major EISA systems. /VV^ll
To see what our high-performance EISA solutions can do for your system, call us at | | %|
1-800-446-9539, or fax us at 1-415-683-4662.

486 is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.TI 34020 is a registered trademark of Texas Instruments. Mylex is a registered trademark of Mylex Corporation. © Mylex Corporationa990

Circle 386 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 387)

STATE OF THE ART
STORE DATA IN A FLASH

Figure 2: A flash-
memory cell is
basically one
memory bit (on or
off). An array of
up to 4 million
flash-memory
cells can be
connected to form
a flash IC.

TYPICAL INTEL FLASH CELL

Second-level
polysilicon

Voltage »-t-
source

+Voltage gate

Control gate

First-level
polysilicon
(floating)

Floating gate

Gate oxide > 100A

P-substrate

-K Voltage drain

your critical needs for laptop and note-
book computers by providing speed,
rugged construction, and low power
consumption.

You can also benefit from flash mem-
ory in other implementations. Flash will
let you update your laptop's ROM with
the latest versions of DOS, or any other
operating system, whenever you want to.
Laptops save space on disks and in RAM
by placing the operating system in ROM.
The problem with this is that you can't
update the operating system without re-
placing the entire ROM— an expensive
proposition. Thus, laptops often use old
but reliable versions of DOS. Using an
old version of DOS may mean that your
computer won't need a ROM replace-
ment in the near future, but it may not
run recently written programs, either.

One thing lacking in palmtop com-
puters, such as the Poqet PC and Atari
Portfolio, is small, convenient mass stor-
age. Without any optional peripherals,
their storage is limited to programs on
ROM cards and memory-expansion
cards that lose their contents when they
are removed. With flash-based memory
cards, you can put your own programs
and data onto the card, modify them at
will, and not worry about losing the in-
formation when you remove the card.
These features make flash-memory
cards the logical choice for the palmtop's
missing "floppy disk drive."

Laser Printers

If you use a laser printer, you can benefit
significantly by using flash memory in-
stead of ROM. In laser printers, ROM
stores programs and fonts. ROM replace-
ments are expensive because printer-
control language programs have become
large and are subject to frequent up-
grades and improvements. Using a laser
printer equipped with flash memory in-
stead of ROM to store control-language
programs, you can reprogram your
printer's control language yourself at no
cost and without replacing any ROM.

Currently, laser-printer font-storage
options leave much to be desired. You
have three choices. You can download a
font to the printer each time it is needed,
wasting your time and the laser printer's
memory. You can place a font in a ROM
cartridge and plug it into the printer, but
you are limited to a selection of only a
few fonts out of the hundreds available.
Or you can store a font on a dedicated
hard disk connected to the printer.

But when you use flash memory inside
your printer, you only have to download a
font once and it remains in your printer
until you choose to delete it from the

printer's memory. Because you decide
which fonts are stored in the printer's
memory, you can really personalize
them according to your preferences. You
no longer have to buy cartridges that
come with a half-dozen fonts just to get
the one font you need.

Fabrication Techniques

Flash devices are manufactured using de-
signs and processes similar to those used
for EPROM and EEPROM, so the tech-

nology is evolutionary rather than revo-
lutionary. Because manufacturers have
dealt with similar products, they will be
able to climb the learning curve much
more rapidly than if the technology were
completely new. Thus, vendors planning
to produce flash memory should be able
to attain manufacturing costs close to,
but perhaps not equal to, those enjoyed
by EPROM.

However, flash devices are a bit more
complex and more silicon-hungry than

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 315

Howto]anda747
inanareanobigser

thanyourdea

What do you need to
bring in a 400-ton, five-
story jetliner? Nerves. Skill.
And the new Microsoft
Flight Simulator Aircraft &
Scenery Designer

Add it to our Flight
Simulator 40, and you're off
on the most realistic flight
experience this side of a PC. \bu get a Boeing 747-400, complete
with computerized flight display You can also try out a Piper
Archer, a Beechcraft Starship or a seaplane. Fly them stock,
or push the envelope and modify them to your own specs.

See a Microsoft dealer mm
Because now it's possible to buy awUMft^SOn
excitement. In the jumbo size. Making it all make sense'

For more information, call (800) 541-1261, Dept. M5L Customers in Canada, call (416) 673-7638. Outside Sorth America, call (206) 882-8661. ©1990 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft and the Microsoft logo are registered trademarks and Making it all make sense is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
Flight Simulator is a registered trademark of StdiUDGIC Corporation, used under license by Microsoft Corporation.

^6 SPEED

PLETE COMPATIBILITY

Introducing the high speed modems from U.S. Robotics

Now with MAZbis

Until now, high speed modem users had the best of
one world. They either had speed or compatibility.
U.S. Robotics just changed all that.

THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS...

With the new line of high speed modems from
U.S. Robotics - the Courier HST, the Courier HST Dual
Standard and the Courier V.32 - you can now have both
the highest speeds and the most compatibility

For speed - its the Courier HST which delivers
throughput up to 35,500 bits per second with MNP® level
1-5 error control and V.42d/s. And it still costs less than
$1,000.

For Compatibility - the Courier V.32 provides CCITT
standard modulations from 300 bps to 9600 bps for under
$995. And with MNP levels 1-5 and V.42b/syou will get
complete data integrity plus throughputs approaching
24,000 bps.

For the best of all worlds - it's the Courier HST Dual
Standard, combining the blinding speed of the Courier
HST with the compatibility of the V.32. At $1 ,295, it
costs less than some featureless V.32-only modems.

U.S. ROBOTICS - THE EXPERTS CHOICE

You would expect the broadest high speed modem line
from U.S. Robotics. We manufactured our first HST
in 1987, and it quickly became the standard on over
8,000 bulletin boards and for over 40,000 users. Rated #1
by Data Communications magazine, it confirmed what
our customers knew all along - U.S. Robotics delivers
the best modem value. And we've been doing that for 13
years - for over 1 ,000,000 customers.

When you look for high speed modems, don't settle for
half a solution. Look to U.S. Robotics. Call today for
details on the high speed modems that give you the best
of all worlds.

Call 1-800-Dlal USR. (1-800-342-5877)

iilobotics

The Intelligent Choice in Data Communications
81 00 North McCormick Boulevard, Skokie, Illinois 60076

U.S. Robotics. Courier and HST are trademarks of U.S. Robotics. Inc. Other computer
and software names identified by s or are trademarl^s of their respective

manufacturers. Phces are suggested retail prices in U.S. Dollars.
For sales in the United Kingdom, please call Miracom, Ltd.. Ipswich. England.
Telephone: 0473 233888. For Canadian sales, call 1 -800-553-3560.

STATE OF THE ART
STORE DATA IN A FLASH

Figure 3:

Technology trade-
offs for
semiconductor
nonvolatile
memories. As
programming
flexibility
increases, so do
device complexity
and cost.

NONVOLATILE MEMORY TRIANGLE

Byte-level-erasable in
system

Electrically
erasable in system

Requires UV light
for erasure

Not erasable
in system

EPROM devices. The most common
flash chip is an array of single-transistor
memory cells and looks much like an
EPROM (see figure 2). It is slightly
larger than an EPROM of equal density
to allow for the command port and pe-
ripheral circuitry that supports the in-
system rewrite function and provides an
on-chip processor interface.

The typical EEPROM chip is made of
an array of two-transistor cells to enable
bit-level erase/reprogram. For any given
density, it requires much more silicon
than either the EPROM or flash cell. Be-
cause a major cost determinant in any IC
is the silicon required, the EEPROM is a
more expensive part.

Erasing and Reprogramming

In terms of reprogrammability , the flash
IC falls somewhere between the tradi-
tional EPROM and EEPROM (see figure
3). A major difference between flash
memory and EPROM is that flash does
not require ultraviolet light for erasure,
as does the traditional EPROM. While
flash resides in your system, you can
electrically erase it in much the same
way as you would an EEPROM.

The energy needed to discharge or
erase the gate in a typical EPROM is de-
rived from UV light, a requirement that
makes it difficult and time-consuming to
erase an EPROM. In a typical flash IC or
EEPROM, energy resident in the system
can be used to erase a group of memory
cells or the entire chip. This feature
makes it easy and fast to erase a flash IC
in the system.

You generally cannot erase a flash IC
on a byte-level basis as you can with the
EEPROM, but some flash ICs can be
erased on a sector-level basis. Flash ICs
are usually reprogrammable by hot elec-
tron injection, a solid-state physics pro-
cess that uses the energy in the system. It
is possible to program on a byte level, but
because it is not possible to erase on a
byte basis, reprogramming is limited to
sector or the entire chip.

Because the flash device does not re-
quire UV light for erasure, the chip does
not need to be housed in an expensive ce-
ramic window package such as that re-
quired for an EPROM. Therefore, flash
is also an excellent candidate for surface-
mount technology.

The advantage of surface mount is that
there is less distance between the device
and the board. This reduction can lead to
improved reliability, better system per-
formance, and higher board density, as
well as reduced cost. Also, the flash de-
vice can readily be packaged in memory-
card configuration and handled as if it

were a floppy disk, which is important to
the portable computer world.

The total cost of using flash memory
can be considerably lower than that for
EEPROM and, with some applications,
close to that for EPROM— about $6.50

for a 1-Mb EPROM versus over $250 for
a similar-size EEPROM. On a compara-
ble device-density basis, flash memory's
$15 average selling price is much lower
than the EEPROM 's and greater than the
EPROM 's. With flash, application solu-

Create a scene
inyourlMrigroom.

Make mountains. Build bridges. Give rise to rivers and run-
ways. When you add Microsoft Fli^t Simulator Aircraft & Scenery
Designer to Flight Simulator 4.0, the worid is literally yours.

Because now you can choose from 34 different objects-
natural or man-made-and change their size, shape, color and
even location to your liking. Ask your Microsoft dealer about it.

You'll get the biggest kicks Jljiiri jifvjjv L/f
in the air While you're having the fMnPCf (L^SOfC
most fun on earth. Making it all make sense'

For more information, call (800) 541-1261. Dept. M51 Customers in Canada. caU (416) 673-7638. Outside Sortk America, call (206) 882-8661. ©1990 Microsoft
Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft and the Microsoft logo are registered trademarks and Making it all make sense is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation
Flight Simulator is a revered trademark ofSttbLOGIC Corporation, used under license by Microsoft Corporation.

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 317

Circle 223 on Reader Service Card

BACKPACK.
irS A DRIVE OF A
DIFFERENT COLOR.

Add a disk drive without hors-
ing around inside your com-
puter-just plug Back- !
pack into your parallel ^
port! Connect your
printer to the Backpack
drive. No tools. No hassles.
No interface cards. Back-
pack works with IBM and
compatibles including PCs,
XTs.ATs, PS/2s, PS/Is, and

laptops. It's available in 5.25 "
and 3.5 " and comes complete
with everything you need.
- T" So see your dealer or
get it straight from the
f horse's mouth and call us
about Backpack today!

IVlicroSalutians

Computer Products
132 W. Lincoln Hwy., DeKolb, IL 60115
815-756-3411 Fax: 756-2928

Video Li.

Truly affordable video imaging for
IBM PC and Macintosh computers.
ComputerEyes includes everything
you need to capture 8- or 24-bit color
(or 8-bit gray scale) images from any
composite or S-Video source.

Captured images can be used with
all popular paint, animation, database,
presentation, and publishing programs.

Call today for more information and
free demo disl<.

Digital Vision, inc.

270 Bridge St.. Dedham. MA 02026

(617) 329-5400

To order call (800) 346-0090

COM

U T E R

Professional
Series
Color Video
Digitizers
For Under
$450.

Digital Vision

318 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 110 on Reader Service Card

STATE OF THE ART
STORE DATA IN A FLASH

L aptop and
notebook computers are
the ideal applications
for flash disks.

tions are possible that would be imprac-
tical with either the UV-light erasure
EPROM or the pricey EEPROM.

The law of the semiconductor jungle is
that over time, all device types see im-
proved performance and reach greater
density levels. At the same time that sili-
con real estate is minimized, costs are
significantly reduced. By 1994, the cost
of a megabyte of flash memory is ex-
pected to move from its current level of
about $120 to about $15.

Flash in the Pan?

Unless developers are able to overcome
the current limitations of flash disks, you
will probably continue to use hard disk
drives on your desktop computer for
mass storage. Hard disk drives are inex-
pensive and fairly reliable, and they can
store plenty of data. Although single-
user personal computers will probably
continue to include hard disk drives,
eventually network servers will probably
offer both hard disk drives and flash
disks on-board.

On many servers, you frequently ac-
cess files, such as programs, that are
rarely changed. Flash disks are ideally
suited to perform this service. You can
store seldom-changed program files on
flash disks, relieving the burden on the
server. By doing so, the server's re-
sponse to program load requests will be
far faster than if the files were stored on a
hard disk.

Flash memory combines the advan-
tages of an EPROM 's low cost with an
EEPROM 's ease of reprogramming.
These advantages will allow flash mem-
ory to make significant contributions to
personal computers. Portable computers
will be the first to benefit from this new
technology, as flash-based disks in-
crease their speed, operating time, and
ruggedness. ■

Walter Lahti and Dean McCarron are
vice presidents of In-Stat (Scottsdale,
AZ), a company that provides market re-
search for the electronics industry. They
can be reached on BIXc/o "editors. "

htroducingThel)tal LAN Plan.
Only EmersonUPS has it.

It's the first

systems approach
to network power
protection.

Total network
protection.

With the price
breakthroughs we've achieved on our
Accupower' line, you can now protect
a file server and five to six PC nodes.
All for what you'd expect to pay just
for file server protection.

And Emerson UPS has the broad-
est range of LAN interface cables
and software in the industry From
Novell's Netware to the new IBM
RS/6000 ATK.

But that's just the first of many
unique solutions that only
Emerson offers.

AUPSthatfitsinaslot.

There's
our unique ' •
AccuCard,™

for instance. ,

.\hknii MmliiSl

A low-cost UPS-on-a-card that fits
right into an unused slot in your PC. It
features complete data save and restore;
self-diagnostics and unattended oper-
ation on your nodes.

And cable adapters
make AccuCard compatible
with virtually all desktop
computer brands.

Plusthere'sourproprietary
AccuSaversofiware.

AccuSaver software is acti-
vated by any data-threatening power
problems. While the battery backup
capability of the Emerson UPS sup-
plies emergency power to the system,
our AccuSaver software orchestrates
a controlled shutdown on all
^ your PC nodes.
— ^ Then, when

power is restored,
you can either
manually or auto-
matically restore
your workstation.

Hie EmersonUPS

And you get our
money backguarantee.

We're so confident in the absolute
reliability of our network
protection systems,
we'll refund your money
if, for any reason, you're
not satisfied with your
UPS system?

Think about it.

Absolute reliability: More
power protection solu-
tions than any other company offers.
And a money-back guarantee. All at
truly affordable prices.
The Total LAN Plan.
For more information or the name
of the distributor nearest vou, just call
1-800-BACK-UPS.

EMERSONUPS

The power to keep up.

.■\ccupciwer is a registered trademark and AccuCard. AccuSaver and the Total LAN Plan are trademarks of Emerson Computer ftiwer, a division of Emerson Electric. PC is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. LAN Man^r is a
registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Novell and Netware are registered trademarks of Novell Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T Bell Labs. Ban>-an and 3Cfwn are registered trademarks of those respective companies.
"Sooie restrictions apply See TOUT reseller for details or call Emason UPS Rmw; a dKision Emerscn Electric Ca

Circle 125 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 126)

Take any 3 books for
only $r^ each

Inside the
Norton Utilities

INTEODUCTION TO THE X
DOW SYSTEM. By 0. Jones. 577 pp.,
illus., softbound. Here's the new por-
table software standard for worksta-
tions, presented in a compiete, de-
tailed tutorial. This book will help you
harness the system, cut down on re-
dundant workstation events, exploit
private/shared color cells, and map
strategies.

585109-1 Pub. Pr, $32.00

INTRODUCING PC-DOS & MS-DOS,
Second Ed. By T Sheldon. 403 pp.,
illus., softbound. This Second Edition
covers all releases through 4.0, as
well as Microsoft Windows and DOS-
SHELL. Features the same hands-on
tutorial format of the First Edition, with
expanded coverage of batch file tech-
niques that can dramatically increase
your computing speed.
565/651 Pub. Pr., $29.95

LOCAL AREA NETWORKS: Archi-
tectuies and Implementations.

By J. Martin, with K. K. Chapman. 353
pp., Illus. An indispensable reference
for all who buy, install, maintain, or
manage LAN services. Provides com-
plete coverage of the concepts, archi-
tectures, and implementations of LAN
technology

584900-3 Pub. Pr, $44.00

A PROFESSIONAL'S GUIDE TO SYS-
TEMS ANALYSIS. By M.E. Modell.
307 pp., Illus. Detailed coverage of
what you need to know-what ques-
tions to ask, how to conduct a cost-
benefit analysis, how to document
and validate your findings-to design
the best systems for your user's
needs.

426/325 Pub. Pr., $37.95

DATA EXCHANGE: PC/MS-DOS. By

S. Ross. 426 pp., Illus., softbound.
Now you can convert files quickly and
painlessly from word processing pro-
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STATE OF THE ART
MAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

DAT's
a Solution

Reliable multigigabyte backup storage
with digital audiotape

Karina Lion

Tape backup has
been around for a
long time. In the
early days of com-
puting, mainframe shops de-
veloped half-inch reel-to-reel
tape drives. (Such drives re-
main popular in centralized
computing environments to-
day.)

Then, with the advent of
personal computers, came
quarter-inch tape drives.
Quarter-inch cartridge tape,
developed originally to store
5 megabytes of data, soon be-
came a popular backup solu-
tion for the stand-alone PC.

Next came the 8-mm tape
format. This storage medium,
developed in the 1950s for the
video industry, uses the stan-
dard VHS recording method,
helical scan. The primary
benefit to early users of 8-mm
tape was its ability to store
over 2 gigabytes of data on a
VHS cassette. Like its quarter-inch and
half-inch cousins, 8-mm tape employs
analog recording methods.

To date, just one company manufac-
tures 8-mm tape drives: Exabyte Corp.
Nonetheless, 8-mm tape backup prod-
ucts have proliferated into many operat-
ing environments. Prior to the advent of
4-mm digital audiotape (DAT) in the
microcomputer arena, the Exabyte 8-mm

tape was the only high-capacity tape-
backup solution available.

Now comes DAT data storage, which
uses digital recording technology devel-
oped for DAT devices in the music indus-
try. In 1988, GigaTrend introduced the
first DAT drive for computer data. Nu-
merous companies have since announced
DAT products, including JVC, Hitachi,
WangDAT, Archive, Wangtek, Hewlett-

Packard, Mitsumi, Sony, and
Teac.

No mystery surrounds the
popularity of DAT. The de-
mand for multigigabyte stor-
age is rapidly becoming com-
monplace. The backup and
archival requirements of PC
LAN users, for example, have
grown exponentially in the
last five years. Users of high-
end workstations and mini-
computers also need multi-
gigabyte backup solutions.

DAT shares with 8-mm
tape the ability to store giga-
bytes of data on a small tape
cartridge. But although the
two technologies are able to
store comparable quantities of
data, DAT drives are cheaper
to manufacture. What about
optical storage? CD-ROM/
WORM (write once, read
many times) technology pro-
vides quick random access to
files. But optical disks cost
more than 4-mm and 8-mm tapes, and
they hold less (only 600 to 700 MB), so
you pay for the privilege of instant access
to files. If that's what your application
requires, go with a CD-ROM or WORM
drive.

DAT systems, like conventional and 8-
mm tape drives, can of course locate in-
dividual files, but there's a delay. For
most backup applications, however, tape

ILLUSTRATION: JOE GAST © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 323

STATE OF THE ART
DAT'S A SOLUTION

remains the medium of choice. And, per
megabyte, DAT is cheaper than 8-mm
tape storage.

Making the Connection

DAT drives, like the conventional tape
drives and hard disk drives, come in two
flavors: internal and external. The inter-
nal DAT systems are available in full-
height and half-height models. On a
LAN, you can attach a DAT system to a

file server or to a network node.

DAT systems support various inter-
faces. SCSI has become the de facto stan-
dard for DAT drives. Older tape drive
interfaces such as QIC-02, used with
quarter-inch and half-inch tape systems,
cannot achieve the high throughput levels
of SCSL If your system already has a
QIC-02 interface, your existing tape-
backup software could be able to com-
municate with a DAT drive. You can even

buy a DAT drive with a Pertec interface
to modernize a nine-track tape system.

Advantages of Helical Scan

The stationary-head technology used in
quarter-inch tape drives puts a great deal
of stress on a tape. In order to achieve a
backup rate of 5 MB per minute, a half-
inch or quarter-inch tape has to move at
speeds of 90 to 120 inches per second
past the stationary head. (See the table
for a more complete comparison of quar-
ter-inch and DAT technologies.) That
causes significant wear and tear on the
tape.

As a result, 150-MB tape cartridges
are rated for only about 200 passes; 60-
MB cartridges are rated for 400 passes.
The newer 300- to 500-MB quarter-inch
systems yield only about 100 passes per
cartridge. By contrast, a 4-mm DAT can
sustain over 1000 passes. Why? With a
DAT system's helical-scan technique,
tracks are laid down in an angular for-
mat, 6 degrees from the physical edge of
tape. In a single pass, a DAT system can
record a gigabyte of data. Quarter-inch
tape technology requires 24 passes to
record 150 MB.

In addition to wear and tear, the speed
at which tape moves in conventional
quarter-inch systems creates other prob-
lems. As the tape passes rapidly over the
stationary heads, friction causes heat,
which can distort the tape's metal-oxide
coating. Such distortion can compromise
the integrity of data. That's why every
quarter-inch tape drive incorporates a
tape-tensioning mechanism that the
drive must monitor continuously to en-
sure accurate performance.

DAT systems employ a rotating drum.
Because the heads on the rotating drum
do most of the work, the tape doesn't
need to travel so fast. DAT moves at a
mere one-third of an inch per second.
The tape heads record the data in a her-
ring-bone pattern. Unlike with the linear
recording method of quarter-inch tape,
with a DAT drive each head can read only
its own track. Tracks can overlap, which
prevents gaps on the tape and cuts down
on wear and tear. All this enables the
tape to travel more slowly, and therefore
to last longer.

Both 8-mm systems and 4-mm DAT
systems employ helical-scan technology.
One key difference is the degree to which
the tape wraps around the rotating drum.
In the Exabyte 8-mm system, the angle of
wrap is 221 degrees; with a 4-mm DAT
system, it's only 90 degrees (see figure
1). The smaller 90-degree wrap angle re-
duces friction and requires fewer moving
parts.

DAT VS. QUARTER-INCH TAPE SYSTEMS

A DAT system stores more, faster, for fewer dollars per megabyte.

Quarter-inch

DAT

Capacity in production

60-500 MB

2.5 gigabytes

Next capacity level

1 gigabyte

5 gigabytes

Recording density

12,500 bits/inch

61,000 bits/incti

Maximum data transfer rate

90K bytes/sec.

207K bytes/sec.

Head teciinology

Stationary

Rotating drum

Recording method

Serpentine

Helical scan

Tape movement (wear/tear)

90 inches/sec.

0.32 inches/sec.

Data storage metliod

Analog

Digital

Media cost/100 MB (avg.)

$25

$1.20

THE WRAP ANGLE

8 mm

Figure 1: A DAT system 's smaller wrap angle reduces friction during normal
operation and prevents stretching of the tape during high-speed searches.

324 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

One Word About Your
Hard Disk Controller

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WAST

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Virtually all applications are disk
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■ 0KB to 20MB of SIMM-based cache memory

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800-486-FAST • 214-954-1774 • Fax: 953-1774

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©1990 by PSI. All rights reseived- hyperSTORE ahd the PSI logo are trademari<s of Perceptive Solutions, Inc. Other brand and
nanes are trademarlts or registered traijematta of their respective companies. Specifications are subject to change. ■ Ad Code:

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REAL-TIME
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STATE OF THE ART
DAT'S A SOLUTION

The DAT system's narrower wrap
angle confers another advantage over 4-
mm tape systems: It prevents stretching
of the tape during high-speed tape mo-
tion. That means file access can occur at
200 times the nominal read/ write speed.

To obtain high-speed reads of the
tape's file marks, DAT manufacturers
now use a digital strobe at the beginning
and end of each track. The technique is
called logical file marking. This differs
from the 8-mm system's file-marking
method — an erased length of tape fol-
lowed by a series of tracks. These physi-
cal file marks use up a lot of tape. In
some cases, file marks can consume as
much as 2 MB, so a 2.3-gigabyte 8-mm
tape can end up with only about 1.8 giga-
bytes of data.

The 8-mm systems and 4-mm DAT
systems also use different head arrange-
ments (see figure 2): 8-mm drives have
separate servo (positioning), read, and
write heads. With 4-mm DAT drives, the
servo heads are integral with the read
and write heads. The latter scheme,
which does not depend on mechanical
alignment of servo and data heads, can
better follow distorted tracks.

DAT Standards

Two DAT recording methods now await
ANSI approval. DDS (digital data stor-
age) is a streaming method similar in op-
eration to half-inch and quarter-inch
tape drives that support the QIC com-
mand set. The other method is called
DATA/DAT. Its features include fast se-
quential storage and high-speed file
search with indexing. DATA/DAT also
has a random-write mode that supports
multiple (up to 254) partitions on a tape.

DDS does random reads, but not ran-
dom writes. It's a bit faster than DATA/
DAT, but it isn't designed for updating
files in place. DATA/DAT, which sup-
ports block- or sector-oriented opera-
tions, does support partial updates.

Forward Error Correction

Recording vast amounts of data on a tape
of such large capacity requires superior
error-detection methods. With a 1.2-
gigabyte tape, the conventional error de-
tection of one error in 10*, the usual with
traditional drives, is unacceptable. Using
read-after-write in conjunction with cy-
clic redundancy checks does not prevent
the types of errors that only show up

4-MM DAT AND 8-MM HEAD MECHANISMS

4-mm DAT tape

Servo/Read head position

Drum|^'

^^L,^_^^^^^ ^ ^ .^^^^^ Neighboring track

Servo information ^ —

8-mm 8500 tape

Servo head position Read head position

^ Neighboring track

Servo information ^

Anticipated track alignment path
/

Tracks that have experienced heat expansion and contraction

Figure 2: An 8-mm tape drive 's separate servo and data heads can have trouble
following distorted tracks. The 4-mm DAT drive 's integrated servo and data heads
track more faithfully.

326 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

After centuries of practice,
manl(ind perfects engineering
calculations: MathCAD.

Announcing MathCAD 2.5:
The Dawn of a New Age.

What the historians will call it,
only time will tell.

Perhaps the Centurs' of Speed, or
the Era of Ease. But whatever the
name, this is the age of MathCAD 2.5
the only math package that looks
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MathCAD 2. 5 includes 3-D plotting, HPGL sketch
import, and PostScript output.

MathCAD is far and awav the
best-selling math package in the
world. Because it lets you perform
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that you wrote yourself.

And now there's MathCxAD 2.5,
a dramaticaUv improved version
that includes three-dimensional plot-
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PostScript* printer support, and
HPGL file import from popular
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And like before, MathCAD's li\-e
document interface" lets \ovl enter
equations anywhere on the screen,
add text to support your work, and
graph the results. Then print your

UNIX
version now
available.

analysis in pre-
sentation-qualit)'
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It has over 120
commonl)' used
fiinctions built
right in, for handling
equations and formulas, as weU as
exponentials, differentials, cubic
splines, FFTs and matrices.

No matter what kind of math you
do, MathCAD 2.5 has a solution
for )'ou. In fact, it's used by over
90,000 engineers and scientists,
including electrical, industrial, and
mechanical engineers, ph)'sicists,
biologists and economists.

But don't take our word
for it; just ask the experts.
PC Magazine recendy
described MathCAD as
"ever\'thing you ha\'e ever
dreamed of in a mathemat-
ical toolbox."

And for Macintosh*
users, we present MathCAD,
rewritten to take fuU advantage of
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Look tor MathCAD 2.5 at your
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call. For more information, a free
demo disk, or upgrade information,
dial 1-800-MATHCAD (in MA,
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Available for IBM" compatibles

and Macintosh computers.

Call for UNIX platform availability.

TM and ® signilA- manufacturer's trademark or
manufacturer's registered trademark respectively.

EDITOR'S
CHOICE

March 14,
1989 issue.

Best of '88
Best of '87

MathCAD

MathSoft, Inc. 201 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139

U.K.: Adept Scientific 0462-480055; France: ISE CEGOS 1-46092768; Germanv: Softline 07802-4036; Japan: CRC 03-665-9762; Finland: Zenex 0\' 90-692 7677 PE

ii

Circle 216 on Reader Service Card

STATE OF THE ART
DAT'S A SOLUTION

when a tape is being read later, such as
those produced by capstan flutter. For-
ward error correction (FEC), used only
in DAT drives, reduces the error rate to
one in 10'^ bits. To put it another way,
there is only one error per 1,000,000
tapes.

The drive's electronics implement er-
ror correction using information from
two correction layers on the tape. FEC
can correct up to 640 consecutive bytes
in a 4K-byte block. Older tape-recording
methods, such as quarter-inch, cannot
ensure this level of accuracy.

Both DDS and DATA/DAT use a tech-
nique that segments the data-recording
track into two areas of the tape. Approxi-
mately 60 percent of each track is allo-
cated to user data and error-correction
coding. The remainder stores the auto-
matic track-finding information used to
keep the tape head centered on the track,
along with saveset marks and file marks.

Interleaving

Both DAT formats support interleaving,
which prevents the stop/start phenome-
non that occurs when a tape drive must
stop its streaming operation because it
must wait for the host to catch up. A DAT
system supports interleaving by buffer-
ing data and by writing only complete
groups of data while the tape is in contin-
uous motion. This provides an economi-
cal way to use an entire tape from begin-
ning to end without wasting start/stop
time. Sophisticated DAT drives now con-
tain "adaptive interleaving" that short-
ens the tape-repositioning time even
more.

Although DDS and DATA/DAT have
been introduced as separate standards,
they will probably continue to coexist.
Backup applications that don't require a
quick file-restore feature can use the
slightly faster DDS format. Applications
requiring quick access to file marks and
fast restore will use DATA/DAT.

Modes of Access

DAT systems support three modes of ac-
cess: streaming, random, and update-in-
place. With streaming access, you ap-
pend data onto a tape. To change a file,
you write a complete new version; all
previous versions of the file remain on
the tape. The partition, or tape, does not
require preformatting, and no spare
groups are provided.

With random file access, you can lo-
cate any file on a 1- or 2-gigabyte tape in
less than 60 seconds. A DAT system,
uniquely, does this in a way that emu-
lates a standard block device, such as a
floppy or hard disk drive. A tape, or a
subportion of a tape called a partition,
must be preformatted. The formatted
tape (or partition), now called a data
group, can be overwritten, or refreshed,
without the need to change other sections
of the tape. Note that 4-mm DAT storage
devices can do random reads (as opposed
to random writes) in all three modes of
access.

The update-in-place mode is the most
advanced form of the random-access
technology. In this mode, data access is
a combination of both the random- and
sequential-access methods. Append and
overwrite capabilities are both provided,

but no Preformatting is required. In-
stead, formatting is done "on the fly" by
allocating spare groups at set intervals.
This method of dynamically formatting
and altering files increases data transfer
rates with random writes, while simulta-
neously maintaining areas of the tape
with streaming compactness, where
needed.

DAT's Bright Future

With primary disk storage growing at a
precipitous rate, DAT technology offers
a fast, reliable way to keep those big
disks safely backed up. It can be useful
in other ways, too. With a DAT system's
random-access and update-in-place ca-
pability, you might want to keep primary
storage uncongested by off-loading cer-
tain files (e.g., images) to tape. That sce-
nario would require more sophisticated
application software than is available for
DAT systems today, but it's entirely fea-
sible.

A DAT system offers a higher level of
reliability and data integrity than its ana-
log predecessors. Already more than
15,000 DAT drives are installed in Eu-
rope and the U.S. The technology re-
quires little training. If you're responsi-
ble for large quantities of data, you'll
probably soon be saving that data on a
DAT. ■

Karina Lion is executive director of pub-
lic relations and corporate communica-
tions for GigaTrend. She holds a B.B.A.
degree from George Washington Univer-
sity. She can be reached on BIX do
"editors. "

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Circle 77 on Reader Service Card

'43NB'

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Other manufactures with their simple-minded direct-mapped
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benchmark numbers. We, however, were not convinced DOS
and Power Meter 1.3 is any example of a typical real life
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sizes (of less than 32K) and frequent code-switching are norms.
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Circle 229 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 230)

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IBM is a registered trade mark of International Business Machines. Macintosh is a registered trade mark of Apple Computer, Inc.

Circle 91 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 92)

STATE OF THE ART
MAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

Getting
Your Byte's Worth

Hardware-based data compression is transparent and
automatically compresses everything you store

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Sixty megabytes of
files on a 40-MB
disk! And 120 MB
of data packed onto
an 80-MB tape, with faster
access time to boot. You can
squeeze more data onto a disk
or tape than you might think.

More than ever, mass stor-
age devices are bursting at the
seams. Hard disk drives rou-
tinely come in sizes of over
100 MB, and some tapes can
hold over a gigabyte of infor-
mation. Even so, the number
and size of files continue to
outstrip storage capacities.

Data compression is one so-
lution. You may think of that
as a software solution (see the
text box "Software Solutions"
on page 332), involving the
selective compression of indi-
vidual data files. However,
hardware solutions also exist.
Hardware data compression is
transparent and automatically
compresses everything you store. Often,
these techniques are embedded in hard
disk and tape drive controllers.

A Gigabyte for QIC

The most notable successes for hardware
data compression have come in the realm
of quarter-inch tape drives. For several
years, the popular quarter-inch cartridge
(QIC) format could hold no more than

320 MB of storage. Recent advances in
data-compression and tape-length tech-
nology, however, have made it possible
for these cartridges to hold over a giga-
byte of information.

With this boost in capacity, QIC tech-
nology is emerging as a serious choice
for any backup job. Within the next year,
gigabyte-plus QIC drives will begin ap-
pearing. Then, QIC can be considered

not just for single-user sys-
tems, but also for LAN back-
ups and even mainframe and
minicomputer backups.

In the forefront of this tech-
nology is Stac Electronics. Its
product, the StacPack 9703
data-compression chip, has
become a market leader in
this developing field. Indeed,
the QIC Standards Commit-
tee has declared Stac's hard-
ware-compression algorithm
a standard: QIC- 122.

But there are standards,
and then there are standards.
Many tape backup firms have
hesitated to use the Stac chip.
They are, understandably,
concerned about backing the
wrong horse in what is turn-
ing into a four-way race of
competing data-compression
chips.

Advanced Hardware Ar-
chitectures, InfoChip Sys-
tems, and Hewlett-Packard
have also thrown their hats into the ring.
Unfortunately, their chips are complete-
ly incompatible with each other. Isn't
that just what you need— another com-
patibility question to worry about? How-
ever, it hasn't stopped some companies
from leaping into the fray.

Colorado Memory Systems, a leading
supplier of QIC tape drives, adopted
Stac's data-compression algorithm

ILLUSTRATION: JOE CAST © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 331

STATE OF THE ART
GETTING YOUR BYTE'S WORTH

Software Solutions

There's more than one way to com-
press data. Currently, the most
popular method is to use a shareware
or public domain file-compression pro-
gram. You have several choices if you
decide to go this route (see "Saving
Space" in the March BYTE).

Now, as then, PKzip from PKware is
your best choice. The program, now up
to version 1 . 10, continues to stand out in
both speed and efficiency. In addition,
you can now view zipped files and ma-
nipulate them with popular commercial
programs, such as Lotus's Magellan.

The popular LHarc 1.13 excels at
data compression, but you can feel your-
self growing gray as you wait for it to
complete a job. There have been rumors
that a turbocharged LHarc is in the off-
ing, but so far I haven't seen any sign of
it. The other popular programs, PAK,
ARC, and Zoo, remain unchanged.

Software Pluses . . .

There are several advantages to using
file-compression software. Foremost
among them is that you have much more
control over which files will be com-
pressed. If you only want to slim down
data files, like databases and spread-
sheets, you can arrange to do that. You
can leave executable files untouched.

Another point in favor of this soft-
ware is that you can use most compres-
sion formats on a range of operating sys-
tems. Zoo 2.01, its source code freely
available, has been ported to every
modern operating system. Unofficial,
but effective, compression programs
allow you to use LHarc's LZH, PKzip's
Zip, and SEA's ARC files on Unix,

VAX/VMS, AmigaDOS, and Macin-
tosh systems.

Hiding behind this advantage is an-
other one. Data that has been squeezed
down by a chip must be expanded by the
same kind of chip. This can make trans-
ferring information from one system to
another impossible. That may be exact-
ly what you want for security reasons.
On the other hand, it could be a major
obstacle if your office uses several dif-
ferent tape-backup systems. Software
data compression avoids all this.

There is one other factor that you
should not overlook: money. None of
these programs costs more than $100,
and Zoo is free. If you're willing to take
the time to manage your burgeoning file
collection, you can't beat the price.

. . . and Minuses

That's the good news. The bad news is
that, compared to hardware compres-
sion, these programs are as slow as
mud. They all normally use a disk as a
scratchpad for their temporary files.
This performance shackle ensures that
they will always lag behind pure hard-
ware data-compression implementa-
tions.

There's more. Compression routines
that do their work in hardware are in-
visible. You may never even know that
your files are being reduced in size. But
you'd never make that mistake using
data-compression software. One thing
they all have in common is their painful
command-line interfaces. The only way
to make them palatable to many people
is to use a shell program like California
Software Design's Shez 5.6.

before it had even made the move from
software to silicon. In 1989, the com-
pany adopted Stac's algorithm in its soft-
ware for the Jumbo tape line.

This option enables you to increase the
backup capacity of the QICs by approxi-
mately 50 percent. This increase, in
turn, drops media costs to well under 50
cents a megabyte for the frequently used
DC-2000 40-MB QIC drive. In addition,
increased production has continued to
force the price of QIC drives down.

Even with the additional price of the
Turbo-Compression data-compression
board, these reductions push system
prices per megabyte to well under $10.
Coupled with the increased capacity of

mass storage devices such as WORM
(write once, read many times) and hard
disk drives, QIC drives have thus become
affordable and highly desirable options
on even single-user systems.

Data throughput, always a sore point
when making backups, has also im-
proved. The 9703 chip can, in theory,
slim down input data at a rate of 750K
bytes per second. More impressively, the
chip can expand data to full size at up to
5 MB per second.

In practice, mechanical and data-path
size considerations drop the overall sys-
tem performance considerably. Even so,
there's an impressive increase in speed
when you use a QIC-40-compatible tape

Advertisement

AUTOMATING ON
A SHOESTRING

By Julie R. Caruso

Automating an of-
fice on a budget is a
common challenge
businesses face. The
project can be partic-
ularly difficult when
the company doesn't
have the money to
replace a diverse
- base of equipment
^ .^i^^^H ^ and software that
has been purchased randomly throughout
its history, and needs to incorporate
these resources into an integrated,
smoothly functioning network.

A case in point is the automation of the
Fulton County Planning and Economic
Development Department in Atlanta, GA.
Faced with a limited budget, an odd assort-
ment of computer brands and models, a
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with 30 users located in two buildings, and
a growth plan that demanded a doubling of
the initial network solution within a one
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the best solution.

"Our major concern was to be able to
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ment, oversaw the project.

Woodward turned to National A. I. Lab,
Inc., an Atlanta-based national distributor of
network solutions, for help. After carefully
assessing the County's needs, Jim William-
son, president of National A. I. Lab, recom-
mended a "hybrid" system that combined
both shared and distributed processing using
PC-MOS and LANLink 5X, both products
from The Software Link.

"By combining both types of technology
using products that are compatible with the
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money and allows the expansion they
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In fact, the system cost more than
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"In addition to saving us money, our net-
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processing capacity has increased by more
than 200 percent, and we're doing much
more of our work by computer because
the network is accessible to everyone
who needs it."

Julie Caruso is Managing Director and Director
of Sales and Marketing for The Software Link, Inc.

332 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 344 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 345)

PCMOS

The Multi-User Solution For The
Multi-Dimensional Company

Odds are, you're part of a multi-faceted organization,
one tiiat's involved in many different projects and
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VARS and RESELLERS:
Ask about our Sales Support Program

STATE OF THE ART
GETTING YOUR BYTE'S WORTH

A One-Sweep Approach

Atypical example of the marriage of
data compression and primary
storage teclinology can be seen in Hew-
lett-Packard's half-incli reel-to-reel
streaming 7980XC tape drive. When
using the 6250 GCR tape format, this
drive uses a real-time data-compression
engine and a "superblocking" packing
process to achieve data-compression
ratios that average better than 2 to 1 .

The 7980XC accomplishes this by
allying two different components. The
first is the integrated circuitry that con-
tains the data-compression engine. This
subsystem catches data as it goes back
and forth from the disk interface and the
tape-cache buffers. Having captured the
data, it then compresses and decom-
presses it on the fly.

The algorithm that actually does the
work appears to be based on a public-
domain version of the Lempel-Ziv algo-
rithm. That isn't surprising. Most data-
compression schemes owe a debt to this
algorithm and its close relative, Lem-
pel-Ziv-Welch. Hewlett-Packard's en-
hancement to the basic theory was to
modify the contents of the data dictio-
nary. This makes an algorithm that
gives good compression results, no mat-
ter how many data types it tackles in a
single session.

Removing Redundancy

As with all compression algorithms, the
key to success is the removal of data re-
dundancy. That's more easily said than
done. The Hewlett-Packard program
encodes patterns that are found in the
input stream. When a unique data string

comes along, it's placed in a dictionary.
The string can be any kind of data, from
ASCII to imaging data.

The dictionary contains records with
two elements. The first field contains a
unique string, and the second holds a
code word that represents the string.
This dictionary is made up of 4096
record positions and must be initialized
before data compression begins.

The first eight locations in the dictio-
nary are reserved for control flags. The
next 256 positions are assigned a value
range from 0 to 255 . These represent the
familiar ASCII characters. The remain-
ing 3832 entries are set aside to hold
unique strings. As the program fills
these entries, it link-lists the other en-
tries in the dictionary to them. The
records always end with a pointer to the
records that contain the ASCII values.

The program searches the dictionary
for matching strings as data is input. If
it can't find a match, it enters the data
string into the dictionary and assigns it a
code word. These code words are output
to the mass storage device, where they
make up the building blocks of the com-
pressed file. They are 9 to 12 bits long,
depending on the record's position in
the dictionary. If the record already
exists, the program replaces the data
string with the code word of the corre-
sponding record. The program gives
unique strings 12-bit-long code words
after it fills all 4096 slots of the dictio-
nary.

At the beginning of the compression
cycle, the program doesn't compress
data. In fact, the data stream actually

increases in size at first, because the
first few 8-bit words are replaced by 9-
bit codes. As the dictionary fills with
multicharacter sequences, the 9- to 12-
bit-long code words begin to represent
character strings that are at least 16 bits
long. An example should make this pro-
cess clearer.

The word cat is input as part of a data
stream. The program searches for the
first byte, c, in the dictionary. It's found
in the ASCII character set. Since a
match has occurred, the next byte, a, is
added to the string. Then the program
searches for the string ca. If it doesn't
find ca, it makes a new entry in the dic-
tionary for the unique string. The pro-
gram sends out the code word for the
longest string that was matched before
the new dictionary entry was made. In
this case, the 9-bit code word for c is
output.

Then, the program drops the first
byte from the search string, and the
hunt begins for the character a. It's also
found among the ASCII characters. The
program adds the next input byte and
looks for the string at. If it finds at in
the dictionary, it adds the next byte, and
then the entire search procedure begins
again.

In the event that the new search string
isn't found, the program makes a new
dictionary entry and exports the code
word for the longest string that was pre-
viously found, at, to the tape drive. In
this case, a 9-bit code word now resides
in the place of the 16-bit string at. Data
compression has begun.

The program doesn't attempt to scan

in a Jumbo Plus system. Backup times
are cut almost in half as the throughput
increases from 2.3 MB per minute to 4.5
MB per minute. Colorado Memory Sys-
tems claims even better gains when using
the drive with higher-capacity tapes.

These performance improvements
haven't been lost on other vendors in the
field. Tandberg Data A/S is planning to
add the Stac chip to its line of tape drive
controllers. Archive, the largest QIC
drive vendor, has also jumped on the
Stac bandwagon. Its product, expected
by the end of this year, is named the Vi-
per 2650. This drive will use QIC-525
tapes to store up to a gigabyte of data
with an effective throughput of 500K
bytes per second.

DAT: Gigabytes for Gigabucks

It's clear that by 1991 every important
QIC drive will sport data-compression
technology. That doesn't mean that QIC
will rule the personal computer backup
world, though. Digital-audiotape (DAT)
drives that use hardware data compres-
sion to good effect are also on their way.

The first DAT competitor to see the
light of day will be a 2.5-gigabyte 4-mm
DAT drive, the TurboDAT, from Giga-
Trend. Stac's ubiquitous 9703 chip pow-
ers this SCSI device as well, but it's more
than just another platform. The engi-
neers of GigaTape GmbH, the German
parent company of GigaTrend, have
added several features to the drive.

One of the most important of these

features is the use of logical file marks,
which lets you store more data on a DAT
than older file-storage schemes allowed.
This and other enhancements have
brought random-file-access speeds down
to 60 seconds or less.

Archive has joined forces with Hew-
lett-Packard to work on producing a com-
pression-capable DAT drive. This device
is still in the development stage. It will be
based on a variation of HP's DCLZ algo-
rithm. HP already successfully uses this
algorithm in its half-inch reel-to-reel
7980XC tape drive compression copro-
cessor. (See the text box "A One-Sweep
Approach" above.)

Peripheral Vision, a data-storage new-
comer, is introducing the 4Sight series of

334 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ART
GETTING YOUR BYTE'S WORTH

the data before building the dictionary
to determine which strings occur more
frequently than others. The statistics of
data redundancy indicate that you can
achieve good compression performance
even with a 4K-byte dictionary. A larger
dictionary or a sophisticated data-anal-
ysis scan could increase data-compres-
sion efficiency, but it would slow down
the operation. This one-sweep approach
is at the heart of today's speedy hard-
ware data compression.

Clearly, what would prove a good
compression dictionary for one kind of
file would not serve as well for another.
To ensure maximum performance, the
engineers at Hewlett-Packard have pro-
grammed the chip to reset the dictio-
nary frequently.

This approach has two points in its
favor. The most important is that it
forces the dictionary to adapt to changes
in the current data stream. The second
is that the code-word length for the most
recent repeating patterns will be set to 9
bits.

In other words, the algorithm is al-
ways trying to get the highest possible
theoretical compression without wast-
ing the time involved in analyzing the
data and then operating on it. But the
method isn't perfect. By resetting the
dictionary every time x number of kilo-
bytes have been processed, perfor-
mance suffers when the nature of the
data stream doesn't change.

Three Systems on a Chip

Originally, Hewlett-Packard coded the
algorithm and proved it successful in
Pascal. From there, it was ported to a
proprietary integrated chip. The com-
pany then made several changes to en-
sure that the implemented algorithm

could deal with the high-speed through-
put required of a tape drive controller.

In the hardware version of the pro-
gram, the dictionary is created in a 23-
bit-wide static RAM bank. While it
might seem that the dictionary could get
by on only 4K bytes of RAM, it really
needs more. This extra space handles
data collisions that occur while building
the dictionary. Still, the Hewlett-Pack-
ard algorithm requires far less space
than many other schemes.

A single VLSI chip contains all the
necessary programs and work space.
This chip does both the compression
and decompression processes, but it can
only do one at a time. Hewlett-Packard
heightened the chip's efficiency by di-
viding it into three semi-autonomous
systems: the input/output converter, the
compression and decompression con-
verter, and the microprocessor inter-
face. Each section operates indepen-
dently of the others for the most part.
Thus, the chip can maintain a high per-
formance level even with changes in the
throughput speed.

Compression and decompression are
closely bonded in this algorithm. Un-
like such algorithms as Huffman cod-
ing, the data dictionary is an integral
part of the compressed data. As such,
the program must re-create it every time
it needs to decompress a data set.

While this process yields additional
space savings, it also means that decom-
pression can start at only a few specific
points in the data. It would be almost
impossible, for instance, to translate a
fragment of a compressed file into its
original form. In practical terms, this
means that data can be decompressed
only when it is presented in proper order
to the decompression hardware.

4-mm DAT drives. These drives are sup-
posed to raise the capacity of a 1 .3-giga-
byte cartridge by almost 300 percent, to
5 gigabytes. The company says that data
throughput also increases by almost the
same measure, from about 180K bytes
per second to 700K bytes per second.

The 4Sight 4-mm drive is not directly
connected to the computer. Instead, the
compression device serves as a bridge be-
tween the tape system and the host. The
compression system, which has its own
housing, is connected to the drive and the
computer by a SCSI. From the viewpoint
of the host, the 4Sight DAT drive is just
another SCSI tape drive. Several VLSI
chips, controlled by an integral micro-
processor, manipulate the data once it

arrives at the device.

The actual data compression (or de-
compression) occurs in a 128K-byte stat-
ic RAM buffer. The data is then passed
on, via a second SCSI, to the drive itself.
If you wish, you can switch data com-
pression off so that other devices can
read its tapes. I expect this to become a
standard option on all these systems.
Versatility demands it. If this option isn't
available, you may want to think twice
before buying such a device.

DAT drives have several obstacles to
overcome, however, before they appear
on every desktop. The chief obstacle is a
lack of consensus on DAT formats. Giga-
Trend and several other major companies
support the Data/DAT format. Others,

including Hewlett-Packard, back the
DDS (digital data storage) format.

While Data/DAT is technically supe-
rior—it enables both random reads and
writes while DDS permits only random
reads— that doesn't mean it will be the
winner. If you consider the number of
Beta VCRs sold last year versus the num-
ber of VHS VCRs, it's obvious that tech-
nical superiority is not the only criterion.

And DAT drives are far more expen-
sive than QIC devices. In fact, the pock-
etbook blues may slow down DAT market
penetration more than anything else and
thus put the brakes on any DAT standard-
ization efforts.

Spare Room on Your Hard Disk

Data compression on backup devices is
all well and good, but what you really
want is something that will give you more
room on your hard disk. Several products
have tried to meet this demand, and, sad
to say, without exception, they've all
crashed and burned.

Contrary to popular opinion, data-
compression and error-correction issues
were not the culprits. The devices that
have come and gone have floundered on
the rocks of system integration. Every
operating system has its own way of ad-
dressing random-access devices. Fitting
compression and decompression routines
between such structures as the DOS file
allocation tables (FATs) and the system
BIOS is a difficult task. For instance, a
file compressor could allow a logical
drive to contain more than the 32 MB of
files MS-DOS 3.x can recognize. New
hardware systems may finally manage to
fly past these hurdles.

InfoChip Systems' Disk Expander is a
half-length card that offers transparent
compression and decompression under
DOS 3.x. While its proven IC-105 com-
pression coprocessor can work with any
mass storage device, the Disk Expander
board has been optimized for disk drives.

Part of this optimization involves the
use of what InfoChip calls "lossless" or
"noiseless" data compression. This re-
cording methodology uses proprietary
algorithms to ensure that no errors creep
in during the compression (or decom-
pression) cycle. That may sound like
wishful thinking, but it's not.

InfoChip's error-free processing is
based solidly on the pioneering work of
information theorist and computer scien-
tist Claude Shannon. Information loss,
often feared in data compression, is ac-
tually extremely rare due to successful
implementations of the Reed-Solomon
error-correction algorithm. InfoChip
has taken a different road from that of

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 335

STATE OF THE ART
GETTING YOUR BYTE'S WORTH

other companies, one that should lead to
even more reliable data compression.

A software driver bridges the gap be-
tween the operating system and the hard-
ware interface. It maps compressed files
to the DOS FAT and intercepts all operat-
ing-system and applications calls to the
drive. This software bridge is necessary
because the minimal storage unit under
InfoChip is the cluster.

True random block read and write op-
erations will go much more easily than

when you try to work with a file-based
system. This means that an unaugmented
DOS will be unable to use a disk partition
under the Disk Expander. However, this
may not be a major objection.

InfoChip's president, Dr. Kai P. Yiu,
has stated that his company's aim is to
produce a bootable drive that any normal
DOS application can run on. If you don't
want to put all your eggs in one basket.
Disk Expander lets you have both com-
pressed and uncompressed partitions.

You will need a separate driver for
every operating system you use (and their
major variants). First to be released will
be the MS-DOS 3.x driver. The beta ver-
sion takes up about 27K bytes of conven-
tional memory. It will work with most
conventional interfaces— ST506, ESDI,
and SCSI— with one exception: It won't
work on Micro Channel PCs. Other
drivers for DOS 4.x and Micro Channel
systems are under development.

Stac Electronics is also working on a
card to bring in-line data compression
to hard disks. This product is intended
to compete directly with the InfoChip
board. Stac is taking its time with this
project, and no release date has been set.

Stac also plans to use the device driver
approach, but the company has bigger
things in mind than drivers. Stac's meth-
od includes a restructuring of the MS-
DOS FAT and other low-level data orga-
nization structures. The driver will not
cover the ground between the FAT and
the compressed files, but rather the terri-
tory between the file organization and
the operating system and applications.

It's a tall order, but Stac seems up to
the challenge. To quote Gary Clow, pres-
ident of the company, "We're being very
cautious and spending a lot of time and
effort in the quality-assurance area and
compatibly testing before even announc-
ing the product." Stac plans for its driver
to be compatible with DOS 3.x and 4.x
and the Windows 3.0 environment.

Cutting Its Teeth

The promise of data-compression firm-
ware and hardware is bright. Graphical
user interfaces demand data-storage and
transmission rates that challenge even
the biggest and fastest products of con-
ventional data storage. Multimedia has
data requirements that dwarf anything
ever attempted on a microcomputer.

The first generation of transparent
data-compression devices has arrived in
the nick of time. It may have teething
problems, but there will be integral data-
compression chips, on either a board or a
drive, working in microcomputers with-
in the next year. High-end-computer us-
ers won't be able to live without them.
LAN managers and Unix administrators
in the microcomputer world would kill
for data-compression benefits now.
Hardware data compression can't come a
moment too soon. ■

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols is a program-
mer/analyst for Bendix Field Engineering
Corp. (Seabrook, MD) supporting NASA
communications. He can be reached on
BIX as "sjvn. "

QIC 'n Easy Access to all your
Data Everytime

AS/400

Sys 36/38

Apollo

Everex

Sun

Sytos

UNIX

0QICPAKO

Lotus 123

DBASE

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Secure Data

Duplication

XENIX

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The QICPAK family provides unique facilities to access 1/4" (QIC)
data cartridges created on a wide range of Micros, Minis and Mid-
Range Systems using your PC. This gives you a secure, low cost,
fast and high capacity alternative.

QICPAK's facilities cover all aspects of cartridge processing, including:

• Extracting data directly from the cartridge into packages such as Lotus
123 or DBASE or for use in Mail Merge applications.

• Data files can be extracted by QICPAK from cartridges recorded on
many systems, including: IBM System 36/38, IBM AS/400, IBM PC-RT
Apollo, Everex, Maynard, Mountain, Sun, Sytos, UNIX and XENIX
systems etc.

• QICPAK's High Speed Cartridge Duplication gives complete in-house
control.

• QICPAK's Backup & Restore facilities are UNIX tar compatible

• Custom applications, eg recorded information may be protected from
unwanted access providing secure interchange of your confidential
information.

• Source in Microsoft & Turbo C, Turbo Pascal and BASIC is provided.

We provide both QICPAK Kits for use with existing 1/4" cartridge
drives and also complete internal & external solutions. Support is
by the developers.
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VOSON

VOGON ENTERPRISES LIMITED
94 Easthampstead Road, Wokingham,
Berkshire RG11 2JD
Tel: (0734) 784511/890042 Fax: (0734) 890040

336 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 372 on Reader Service Card

Technology
that stands the test of time

For over 40 years now Sankyo
have been supplying the world with
motors (currently 150 million a year in
fact), magnetic heads, card readers
and industrial robots of outstanding
technical excellence.

It's true we'\'e been around a long
time. But in all that time we've ne\'er
once rested on our laurels.

Instead we've always aimed to
push the boundaries of technology' and
design still further.

Something that's especially true of
our approach to the tape drive market.

Sankyo tape drives offer state-of-the-
art design and unri\'alled reliabilirv'.

Each drive is fully enclosed, has a
direct drive motor, a door for media

protection and modem design head
mechanism.

And as well as the Sankyo
150Mb and 525Mb tape drives, we
also provide sub-systems for PC
applications.

Indeed, what is true of our tape
drives is true of Sankyo.

Technology that stands the test of
time, backed by service of a quality to
match.

To find out more, contact Roger
Kirkland, Telephone: (44) 628 810260
or Fax: (44) 628 819435

Tape Drive Products

PERFECTION THAT ONLY COMES WITH TIME
Circle 306 on Reader Service Card

STATE OF THE ART
MAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

Masses of Storage

For more information on the products and companies mentioned in this State of the Art section,
contact the companies and organizations listed below.

Archive Corp.

Compaq Computer

IBM

MCC

1650 Sunflower Ave.

Corp.

Old Orchard Road

3500 West Balcones

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

P.O. Box 692000

Armonk, NY 10504

Center Dr.

(714) 641-1230

Houston, TX 77269

(914) 765-1900

Austin, TX 78759

Inquiry 1226.

(800)231-0900

Inquiry 1240.

(512) 343-0978

Inquiry 1232.

Inquiry 1247.

California Software

InfoChip Systems, Inc.

Design

Enei^y Conversion

2840 San Tomas Expy. ,

Microsoft Corp.

P.O. Box 15248

Devices, Inc.

Suite 200

1 Microsoft Way

Santa Rosa, CA 95402

1675 West Maple Rd.

Santa Clara, CA 95051

Redmond, WA 98052

(no phone listed)

Troy, MI 48084

(408) 727-0514

(800) 426-9400

Inquiry 1227.

(313) 280-1900

Inquiry 1241.

(206) 882-8080

Inquiry 1233.

T_~ *— 1 ^ AO

Inquiry 1248.

Canon U.S.A., Inc.

Intel Corp.

One Canon Plaza

Exabyte Corp.

3065 Bowers Ave.

Mitsui Petrochemical

Lake Success, NY

1685 38th St.

Santa Clara, CA 95051

Industries

11042

Boulder, CO 80301

(408) 765-8080

LightStore Co.

(516) 488-6700

(303) 442-4333

Inquiry 1242.

1825 South Grant St.,

Inquiry 1228.

Inquiry 1234.

ouite jjv

JVC Information

San Mateo, CA 94402

Carlisle Memory

Fujitsu America, Inc.

Products Co. of America

(415) 572-2333

Products Group, Inc.

3055 Orchard Ave.

2903 Bunker Hill Lane

Inquiry 1249.

6625 Industrial

San Jose, CA 95134

Santa Clara, CA 95054

Park Blvd.

(408) 432-1300

(408) 988-7506

Mitsumi Electronics

North Richland Hills,

Inquiry 1235.

Inquiry 1243.

Corp.

TX 76180

35 Pinelawn Rd.

(800) 334-8273

Gigatek, Inc.

Laser

Melville, NY 11747

(817) 281-9450

1989 Palomar Oaks Way,

Magnetic Storage

(516) lyi-iii'd

Inquiry 1229.

Suite A

International Co.

Inquiry 1250.

La Costa, CA 92009

4425 Arrowswest Dr.

Cipher Data

(619) 438-9010

Colorado Springs, CO

Mountain Computer,

Products, Inc.

Inquiry 1236.

80907

Inc.

10101 Old Grove Rd.

(719) 593-7900

240 Hacienda Ave.

San Diego, CA 92131

GigaTrend, Inc.

Inquiry 1244.

Campbell, CA 95008

(800) 424-7437

2234 Rutherford Rd.

(408) 379-4300

(619) 578-9100

Carlsbad, CA 92008

Maxoptix Corp.

Inquiry 1251.

inquiry 1230.

(619) 931-9122

ZdIv Junction Ave.

Inquiry 1237.

San Jose, CA 95134

Nakamichi

Colorado Memory

(408) 954-9700

c/o Mass Optical

Systems, Inc.

Hewlett-Packard Co.

Inquiry 1245.

Storage Technology

800 South Taft Ave.

3000 Hanover St.

(MOST), Inc.

Loveland, CO 80537

Palo Alto, CA 94304

Maxtor Corp.

11205 Knott Ave.

(800) 432-5858

(415) 857-1501

211 River OaksPkwy.

Cypress, CA 90630

(303) 669-8000

Inquiry 1238.

San Jose, CA 95134

(714) 898-9400

Inquiry 1231.

(408) 432-1700

Inquiry 1252.

Hitachi America, Ltd.

Inquiry 1246.

50 Prospect Ave.

NeXT, Inc.

Tarrytown, NY 10591

900 Chesapeake Dr.

(914) 332-5800

Redwood City, CA

Inquiry 1239.

94063

(415) 366-0900

Inquiry 1253.

338 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

STATE OF THE ART
MAGNETIC VS. OPTICAL

NoGate Consulting
P.O. Box 88115
Grand Rapids, MI
49518

(616) 455-6270
Inquiry 1254.

O.C.E.A.N.

Microsystems

246 East Hacienda Ave.
Campbell, CA 95008
(800) 262-3261
(408) 374-8300
Inquiry 1255.

Panasonic
Communications
& Systems Co.

Two Panasonic Way
Secaucus, NJ 07094
(800) 742-8086
(201)348-7000
Inquiry 1256.

Periplierai Vision

7712 Paseo del Rey
Playa del Rey, CA 90293
(213) 574-1144
Inquiry 1257.

Philips-Du Pont
Optical Co.

1409FoulkRd.,
Suite 200

Wilmington, DE 19803
(302) 479-2500
Inquiry 1258.

Pinnacle Micro, Inc.

15265 Alton Pkwy.
Irvine, CA92718
(800) 553-7070
(714) 727-3300
Inquiry 1259.

Pioneer

Communications

Sherbrooke Plaza
600 East Crescent Ave.
Upper Saddle River, NJ
07458

(201) 327-6400
Inquiry 1260.

PKWare, Inc.

7545 North Port
Washington Rd.
Glendale, WI 53217
(414) 352-3670
Inquiry 1261.

Psion, Inc.

(subsidiary of Psion Pic.)
118 Echo LakeRd.
Watertown, CT 06795
(203) 274-7521
Inquiry 1262.

Quarter-Inch
Cartridge Drive
Standards, Inc.

311 East Carrillo St.
Santa Barbara, CA
93101

(805) 963-3853
Members: Archive
Corp., Carlisle Memory
Products, Cipher Data
Products, Colorado
Memory Systems,
Gigatek, Laser Magnetic
Storage International
Co. , Mountain Computer,
Sony Corp. , Tandberg
DataA/S, 3M, Wangtek
Inquiry 1263.

Ricoh Corp.

5 Dedrick Place
West Caldwell, NJ
07006

(201) 882-2000
Inquiry 1264.

Seagate Technology

920 Disc Dr.
Scotts Valley, CA 95067
(800) 468-3472
(408) 438-6550
Inquiry 1265.

SEEQ Technology,
Inc.

1849 Fortune Dr.
San Jose, CA 95131
(408) 432-7400
Inquiry 1266.

Seiko Instruments
U.S.A., Inc.

PC Products Division
1 144 Ring wood Court
San Jose, CA 95131
(800)888-0817
(408) 922-5800
Inquiry 1267.

Sony Corporation
of America

9 West 57th St.

New York, NY 10019

(212) 371-5800
Inquiry 1268.

Stac Electronics

5993 Avenida Encinas
Carlsbad, CA 92008
(619) 431-7474
Inquiry 1269.

System Enhancement
Associates, Inc.
925 Clifton Ave.
Clifton, NJ 07013
(201)694-4710
Inquiry 1270.

Tandbei^ Data A/S
KJELSASUN 161
N-0808 Oslo 8
Norway
Inquiry 1428.

Teac America, Inc.

Data Storage
Products Division
7733 Telegraph Rd.
Montebello, CA 90640

(213) 726-0303
Inquiry 1421.

3M

3M Center
St. Paul, MN 55144
(612) 733-1110
Inquiry 1422.

Toshiba America
Information Systems,
Inc.

Disk Products Division
9740 Irvine Blvd.
Irvine, CA 92718
(714)583-3108
Inquiry 1423.

Toshiba
Semiconductor

9775 Toledo Way
Irvine, CA 92718
(714) 455-2000
Inquiry 1424.

WangDAT

151 Kalmus Dr.,

Suite K3

Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 241-9613
Inquiry 1425.

Wangtek, Inc.

41 Moreland Rd.
Simi Valley, CA 93065
(805) 583-5255
Inquiry 1426.

Zenith Data Systems
1000 Milwaukee Ave.
Glenview, IL 60025
(312) 391-8860
Inquiry 1427.

This resource guide lists
information sources for
the concepts and
products listed in this
section. Inclusion in the
resource guide should not
be taken as a BYTE
endorsement or
recommendation.
Likewise, omission from
the guide should not be
taken negatively. The
information here was
believed to be accurate at
the time of writing, but
BYTE cannot be
responsible for
omissions, errors, or
changes that occur after
compilation of the guide.

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 339

We'U Build It

ASSEMBLE YOUR OWN
COMPUTER KIT!

• Building your own computer provides you
with a better understanding of components
and their functions

• Upgrading becomes a snap

• In-depth assembly instructions included

• Have your new computer assembled and
running in three hours, using common tools

• Software included

• Purchase computer kits configured by
Jameco or design your own

Jameco 16MHz 80386SX
Desktop Computer Kit

Includes:

• 80386SX Motherboard with 2MB RAM
(expandable to 8MB)

• 101 -key enhanced keyboard

• Multi I/O Card

• Toshiba 1.44MB, 3.5" DSHD floppy disk drive

• Baby sized desktop case

• 200 Watt power supply

• DR DOS by Digital Research and
Diagsoft's QAPlus diagnostic software

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• 101 -key enhanced keyboard

• Multi I/O Card

• Toshiba 1.44MB, 3.5" DSHD floppy disk drive

• Vertical enclosure with 7 half-height drive bays

• 300 Watt power supply

• DR DOS by Digital Research and
Diagsoft's QAPlus diagnostic software

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Terms: Prices are subject to change without notice. Items subject to availability and prior sale. Complete list of terms/warranties is available upon request.

All trade names are registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Circle 190 on Reader Service Card

if You Put it Together.

FEATURE

Chips
FOR THE Nineties
AND Beyond

Chips that speak, reason, and identify smells
offer more than just MIPS

Janet J. Barron

hips aren't just plain chips anymore. And they
aren't just faster, smaller, and smarter than
they used to be. Nowadays researchers and de-
velopers are creating microprocessors that will
do things that were only theoretically possible a

few years ago— like speak, identify smells, train themselves,
and form conclusions with less than hard-and-fast facts.

Here's a look at some of the more interesting new chips. For
the purpose of this article, I'll discuss only stand-alone micro-
processors (versus chip sets or modules). All are programma-
ble, meaning that they can be "taught" to perform a number of
tasks within the particular class of applications they address.

Many of these microprocessors don't fall into the category of
"conventional" chips, and some purists won't consider them
true microprocessors. But I have included them because they
are noteworthy or have unique features or technologies that will
probably affect the way you compute both in the near term and
in the long run.

Some of the microprocessors in this chip medley are still in
the conceptual or architectural stages. Some are in the process
of being produced, and some are already helping businesses use
their devices more efficiently.

Dealing with Logic That's Fuzzy

Currently, many of the most dynamic R&D efforts involve
chaos, fuzzy logic, and neural networks. These techniques
deal with ways of understanding and coming to conclusions
about phenomena that are nonlinear in nature or aren't clear-
cut enough for conventional computers to handle efficiently.

For example, the FCllO from Togai InfraLogic (see photo
1) is a digital fuzzy processor capable of performing generic
microprocessor tasks. However, in a couple of ways (i.e., its
instruction set and its chip specifications) this processor is
geared to handle fuzzy logic information.

This chip's FZAND and FZOR instructions were designed
to perform fuzzy AND and fuzzy OR operations. (For more
information on fuzzy logic, see "When Facts Get Fuzzy,"

April 1988 BYTE). The following is an example of a rule that
uses two premises. It is one of several rules used to demonstrate
the balancing of an inverted pendulum.

Rule 1: ; Clear the Alpha Register
LOAD #FF, ALPHA
;if(Theta == PM && dXheta == ZO)
LHS ALPHA, #2

Theta

Theta.PM

dTheta

dTheta.ZO
; Velocity = PM
RHSC ALPHA, CONCL

Velocity.PM

The FCl 10 is one of the few chips that has an instruction that
evaluates the entire left side (IF condition) of such a rule. A
single LHS (left-hand-side) instruction on the Togai processor
handles up to 255 fuzzy membership tests (versus several in-
structions per test on chips not specifically developed for
fuzzy-logic applications). The RHSC (right-hand-side by cen-
troid) instruction evaluates the right side of the rule.

The data processing portion of the FCl 10 was also designed
and sized to handle fuzzy-logic tasks. The processor runs at 10
million instructions per second (MIPS) and, although mainly
an 8-bit chip, can perform 16-, 24-, and 32-bit (as well as some
other) operations especially suited for fuzzy-logic problems.

Because of these features, Togai 's processor is suited for ap-
plications requiring real-time performance, such as robotic
joint/trajectory control, sensory fusion (combining the input
from a variety of sensors), pattern recognition, and analytical
and medical-instrument reading interpretations.

Cloning the Brain

Researchers have high hopes for neural networks as a potential-
ly valuable processing technology. These artificial systems

342 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

ILLUSTRATION: LYNN BOYER-PENNINGTON © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 343

FEATURE
CHIPS FOR THE NINETIES AND BEYOND

Photo 1: The FCllO. On the bottom left of the dye, the
ALU path is set up so it will do 8-, 16-, or 32-bit
operations. The large block at the lower right
contains the hardware to implement the special
instruction set that performs fuzzy-logic operations.

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. , - - 6 ■ % f g B f B ' g i i t i i i 9 - -- - ■■ ... - t ■

BBBB i H B S S B B B aBBBBiBBBBSBBH BBSS
ill r I T 1 ill III III 3 i r ir

Photo 2: 77! w is a rendering of the Bellcore chip
that contains three major functional areas: the
noise generator (extreme right), the neurons (just
to the left of the noise generator), and the synapse
array (to the left of the neurons). Most of the chip
is occupied by the learning synapse array.

simulate how it is believed the human brain works, learning by
example rather than having to be programmed. (For more in-
formation on neural networks, see the State of the Art section
in the August 1989 BYTE.)

As of this writing, at least a dozen organizations claim to
have produced working neural-network chips. In the last quar-
ter of 1988, using VLSI technology, scientists at Bellcore (the
research arm of the seven regional Bell holding companies) de-
veloped an analog neural-network chip. The purpose of this
processor (developed for research purposes only) is to perform
high-speed on-chip learning in parallel.

Recently, Bellcore's researchers enhanced the learning al-
gorithm and produced a new version of the chip that can learn
as well as evaluate information at the rate of about 100,000 pat-
terns per second. There are 160,000 transistors and 496 bidi-
rectional synapses (electrical connections between neurons) on
the new chip (a 7- by 8-mm die). Each of these synapses has 5
bits of dynamic range and 32 neurons with variable gain. (A
neuron is the nerve-cell body and all its processes.) The learn-
ing synapse array covers most of the chip (see photo 2).

This second-generation learning chip can perform 10* con-
nections per second, as well as the same number of connection
updates per second. Bellcore calls its neural-network processor
a "cascadable" learning chip: It can be cascaded (arranged so
that the output of one feeds directly into the input of another)
for larger systems with no degradation in performance. A neu-
ral-network chip with this type of processing power and self-
learning features can tackle hard-to-handle applications such as
visual pattern recognition, speech synthesis and recognition,
and network optimization and control.

Alternative Neural Network Approaches

It should come as no surprise that Intel has thrown its hat into
the neural-network ring in a big way. The company has already
produced one neural-network chip and is in the process of let-
ting another company use some of its technology to produce a
second chip. Intel also has a neural-network workstation in the
prototype stage.

Intel used CMOS-Ill EEPROM technology and a 208-pin
PGA (pin grid array) package to create its first neural-network
device, dubbed an electronically trainable analog neural net-
work, or ETANN (see photo 3). ETANN contains 64 analog
processing elements and 10,240 trainable weights. It is current-
ly being provided to system developers as an experimental chip
for prototyping and research.

Because of its highly parallel architecture, the chip achieves
a blazingly fast computation rate— roughly 2 billion multiply
accumulates (interconnections) per second. Another feature of
ETANN is that it uses floating gate storage (versus digital
RAM elements or analog DRAM storage) for its weights.

Since it was Intel's first entry into the neural-network field,
the company took a conservative approach by not adding a
learning capability to the chip. Thus, you need some support
tools to train ETANN. A PC -based simulation and training
program from California Scientific Software (developer of the
BrainMaker neural-network simulator) provides the learning
capability.

ETANN's speed and parallelism make it good at mapping
and character- and pattern-recognition. But because the chip
has a memory limitation of about lOK bytes, it is not good at
performing recognition tasks that require a large database.

This past spring, Nestor was awarded a SI .2 million contract
from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA) to develop a neural-network chip in conjunction with
Intel. According to Nestor, the NIOOO device will be capable of

344 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

FEATURE
CHIPS FOR THE NINETIES AND BEYOND

processing 150 billion synapse interconnects per second and
will function as a true learning device and parallel processor.

The inherently fault-tolerant NIOOO will incorporate Intel's
proprietary flash memory technology (see "Store Data in a
Flash" on page 311). The NIOOO will use an estimated 250,000
flash memory cells to implement a nonvolatile storage capabili-
ty that is expected to provide 10-year data retention. Portions of
the data path are parallel, and portions are multiplexed. One of
the noteworthy features of the NIOOO is that learning can be
performed on-chip (as opposed to in software).

A chip as fast as the NIOOO is ideally suited for applications
such as speech, handwritten character and pattern recognition,
machine vision, signal processing, on-board automotive diag-
nosis, and industrial process control.

Sniff Chip Coming

If the collaboration between the University of California at
Irvine (UCI) and Adaptive Solutions is successful, a new chip
will be born that can identify, discriminate between, and store
odors.

The olfactory system was the evolutionary precursor to the
rest of the brain's cortex. If Adaptive Solutions is able to trans-
late a simulation of the olfactory cortex onto a chip, researchers
may begin to understand other kinds of primary perception,
such as vision, hearing, and touch. Understanding the olfactory
system would be one of the first steps toward figuring out how
the neocortical brain functions really work (the neocortex
comprises 80 percent to 90 percent of the brain).

UCI scientists Richard Granger and Gary Lynch performed
the research that resulted in programming a computer to dupli-
cate the wiring of neurons in the olfactory cortex. "Identifying
smells is a tentative first step toward circuit designs that may
emulate those in our heads," says Granger. As the simulation
receives the computer equivalent of smells, it stores memories
by creating a hierarchy of categories and sorting the sensory
information into finer classifications with each "sniff."

Currently in architectural form, this neural-network proces-
sor will learn with on-chip hardware. You will be able to tweak
the chip to work with any neural-network learning model by

Photo 3: Intel's nonvolatile ETANN chip
provides permanent true analog weight
storage without refresh
or battery backup. Its 10,000
multipliers and 20,000 analog
EEPROM cells take up the bulk
of the dye area.

reconfiguring its microcode. Tasks will be distributed among
an array of parallel processors that can process up to 300 mil-
lion connection updates per second during learning. The chip
will hold a single layer of processing nodes, which are time-
shared among all the virtual connection nodes in a network (see
figure 1). (A virtual node concept uses time-division multi-
plexing to simulate all the layers in a particular network, one at
a time.)

Help for Your Shrinking Deslctop

Are you getting the feeling that space on your desktop is shrink-
ing in direct proportion to the number of imaging devices be-
coming available? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to replace all

Figure 1: Adaptive
Solutions ' architecture can be
extended in two directions.
Each chip has 64 processor
nodes, and additional chips
can be added to provide
arrays of hundreds of
processors. Virtual
processors, called
connection nodes, are
mapped to each physical
processor, creating thousands
of neural-network nodes.
Loopback techniques and
broadcast from any
processor allow arbitrary
interconnection of all
nodes.

MASSIVELY PARALLEL AND EXTENDABLE ARCHITECTURE

Outbus

o

CO
.D
Q.
O
O

Inbus

——r

PN(0)

PN(1)

PN(63)

; PN(n)

Physical

Physical

> • • • •

Physical

Physical

processor

'.processor

processor

processor

Virtual
processor

Virtual
processor

Virtual
processor

CN(0)
CN(1)
CN(n)

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 345

FEATURE
CHIPS FOR THE NINETIES AND BEYOND

THE SHBOOM STACK-BASED CHIP

Control C

Address/
data

32

[

I/O

Return

CPU

Stack

16

16

Address

Data

Figure 2: ShBoom has separate 32-bit internal buses for
address and data. Both access the CPU, its two stacks, and the
I/O processor. These buses are multiplexed into a single 32-bit
external bus with DRAM and I/O control signals.

the clutter with a single box that (with the addition of special
software) would let you scan, copy, and print documents; desk-
top publish; communicate via fax, voice, and E-mail; transmit
data; and be networked to your entire workgroup?

A sophisticated chip from National Semiconductor can per-
form all these imaging functions. Tagged the NS32GX320, the
chip was designed for computation-intensive, embedded-con-
trol applications. Concurrent processing, digital signal pro-
cessing (DSP) instructions, and a two-channel DMA controller
are features of this new member of National Semiconductor's
family of embedded system processors.

The 32-bit chip's internal organization allows a high degree
of parallelism in executing instructions, on-chip BitBlt instruc-
tion primitives and logic, stack instruction syntax tuned for
PostScript execution, and a two-way set-associative data cache
for character generation. The NS32GX320 integrates more than
390,000 transistors that are fabricated in submicron, double-
metal CMOS technology and, according to National Semicon-
ductor, achieves a peak performance of 15 MIPS.

This microprocessor was designed for applications such as
embedded control of high-performance laser printers, intelli-
gent terminals, and solid-state phone answering. It can also act
as a controller for fax machines (including Group 4 ISDN),
scanners, or multifunctional combinations of both.

Stack 'Em Up and Go Forth

A stack-based processor has an architecture that is optimized
for real-time control with specific capabilities and features that
make that type of operation its best application area. Among the
companies that are preparing stack-based chips for commercial
production are Harris Semiconductor and Computer Cow-
boys.

One of the newest chips from Harris Semiconductor is the
RTX 2010. This enhancement of the company's RTX 2000
chip will be able to run floating-point and DSP operations. The
2010 was not designed as a 32-bit chip, but as a high-perfor-
mance 16-bit microprocessor. It has a built-in 48-bit multiply-
accumulator that provides its DSP capabilities. In working sili-
con now, Harris's 2010 is due out at the end of this year.

Why do a stack processor? According to Phil Koopman, one
of Harris's leading experts on stack-based microprocessors, it
fills the need for low-cost, low-performance processing. Why a
stack-based processor for the embedded controller market?
Again according to Koopman, "Outside the highest-vol-
ume product, DRAMs, the next largest market is microcon-
trollers."

Because they are stack machines, both the Harris and Cow-

boy Computer chips run Forth well. Why Forth? A character-
istic of high-level machines is that they were optimized for a
particular language to the exclusion of being able to run other
languages. Forth makes a natural assembly language for a
stack machine, but, if you wish, you can also work in C instead
of an assembly language. Both companies offer an ANSI C.

Although both chips are stack-based. Chuck Moore (com-
puter pioneer, software innovator, and creator of Forth) went
down a different trail with his ShBoom chip. He designed it to
be a 32-bit chip with two processors— each with its own in-
struction stream, sharing memory. An I/O processor directs
time-synchronous data transfers while the CPU asynchronous-
ly runs the ALU. A low-power (100 milliampere) CMOS
microprocessor, Moore's chip was designed for an inexpen-
sive, fast (1-megabyte, 200-MIPS peak speed) computer. It has
8-bit instructions so that each 32-bit word is a 4-instruction
cache.

Figure 2 shows the chip's external 32-bit address and data
bus interfaced to its internal 32-bit address and data buses.
These buses link the stack caches, the CPU with its registers,
and the ALU with the I/O processor and its registers. At power-
up, the I/O processor writes 32-bit data into DRAM after four
reads from 8-bit ROM. With this bootstrap, additional data can
be loaded from ROM, disk, or serial line.

This type of chip may be used in areas such as storage and
transfer of data as well as communications. Stack-based micro-

his prototype
may show that digital GaAs is ready
for uhralarge-scale ICs and that
it is possible to build
GaAs logic circuits that will operate
over a wide temperature environment.

processors such as these may be used as network controllers in
high-performance LANs. They may also find applications as
controllers for fiber-optic concentrators with multiple incom-
ing fiber-optic lines handling packets of information that need
to be switched. This type of chip responds to external events
(e.g. , catching a packet off a LAN) quickly.

TRON Offspring

Suppose you want to economically produce a microprocessor
that provides 32-bit addressing and upward compatibility with
future 48- and 64-bit addressing modes. To make things even
more challenging, say you want the end result to combine the
high-speed simplicity of RISC and the programming ease of
CISC. How do you develop a chip in record time with these
features plus the ability to include very high-level instructions
useful for a compiler or operating system?

Today's answer: Develop a chip based on TRON specifica-
tions. Anyone can adopt them; they are free of charge; and they
give companies an all-encompassing global computing solution
(see "The TRON Project," April 1989 BYTE).

346 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

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FEATURE
CHIPS FOR THE NINETIES AND BEYOND

TRON (for The Real-Time Operating System Nucleus) is a
standardization effort consisting of an open architecture, a
family of VLSI chips, and system software. Although it is a
recently implemented concept developed by Ken Sakamura of
the University of Tokyo, several companies have already based
processors on its specifications. Mitsubishi is one such com-
pany, with its new family of M32 embedded controller micro-
processors.

One of Mitsubishi's TRON-based chips, the M32/100, has
been optimized for any control application requiring general
performance rates between 8 and 12.5 MIPS at 25-MHz clock
rates. Due to its instructions for bit-mapping operations, this
chip is a suitable 32-bit CPU for applications with graphics re-
quirements. The M32/100 shines in areas such as laser print-
ers, X Window System terminals, and telecommunications.

Although currently produced with 1.0-micron technology,
by the end of this year this chip is due to be fabricated with 0.8-
micron process techniques. Because of its TRON heritage, the
M32/100 provides a good application-specific IC core so that,
with the addition of application-specific hardware, users can
achieve an economical system-specific solution.

First of the GaAs Chips

Coming soon will be microprocessors fabricated from gallium
arsenide (GaAs) instead of silicon, and possibly hybrid chips
that are a combination of these and other materials.

Photo 4: The first 32-bit GaAs RISC Texas Instruments (TI), one of the major innovators in the

microprocessor. Demonstrated in September microprocessor industry, has in the prototype stage a DARPA-

1988, the chip had 13,000 TTL gates. funded GaAs chip that has demonstrated some very impressive

Improvernents have led to lO-times-faster gates potential capabilities. At a DARPA symposium held last year,

and yields to support 30,000 gates. *is chip was touted as being the world's fastest 32-bit CPU (see

figures).

TPs speedy 150-MHz pipeline RISC processor, with six
pipeline stages, uses heterojunction-based bipolar technology,
which is faster but more complex and expensive than conven-
tional MESFET (metallic Schottky field effect transistor) tech-
nology (see photo 4). According to company officials, this
chip's nearest competitors are 80-MHz, 20-watt microproces-

TVS HIGH-SPEED GaAs MICROPROCESSOR

131 mils 452 mils 135 mils 787 mils 1120 mils 925 mils 544 mils

3 fast 2 fast 2 fast 3 fast 13 fast 2 fast Setup time

1 nominal 2 low-power 1 nominal 2 nominal

1 ultrafast

Physical gate count = 32 Total metal = 4094 mils

Figure 3: This critical path analysis shows the trade-offs made in TI's chip between speed and power requirements (which are
directly proportional in GaAs technology). Propagation delay due to metal interconnects is significant, increasing the critical
path delay by 25 percent. Note that the design concentrates 13 fast gates at the ALU, where a 1120-mil interconnect would
otherwise slow processing significantly.

348 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

CHIPS FOR THE NINETIES AND BEYOND

JOSEPHSON JUNCTION
TECHNOLOGY ADVANTAGES

B 10"

0)

Dl
C

(0

10'

Q-P

Joseplison device

10 10
Power dissipation (nW)

10

10

Figure 4: A comparison of switching time and heat-generation
between several kinds of circuit elements. Note the orders of
magnitude difference between those that use Josephson
Junction technology and those that don 't.

sors. TPs prototype is a 13,000-gate microprocessor (equiva-
lent to a CMOS chip with 50,000 transistors).

TI has built and tested this 16,000-gate-equivalent logic gate
device; emitter coupled logic usually runs in the 15,000-gate to
20,000-gate range. The processor contains a 32-gate-delay crit-
ical path with 200-picosecond-per-gate delays. More typically,
high-speed processors contain a 20-gate-delay critical path
with 650 ps-per-gate delays. This 20-gate-delay path length in
GaAs would have required memories in the 1.5-nanosecond
range, which is considered too demanding for current memory
technology.

Some of the first applications for this high-speed processor
will be in military guidance systems where there is space for
only one processor and it must do the work of six less-powerful
chips. The TI GaAs offering will also lend itself to DSP and
other very high data rate applications.

This prototype chip offers many advantages, such as its
small size and light weight. It has also been shown to be highly
reliable and to offer reproducible performance. And, for logic
and processing tasks, GaAs is faster than silicon.

However, since TPs chip hasn't yet been commercialized,
with the resultant optimization of its good features, it still has
some disadvantages, as well. Although it will perform three
times as fast as silicon chips, it will also cost three times as
much. Another disadvantage is that, at this point, the processor
does not contain much memory. GaAs is an intrinsically poor
technology choice for microprocessor memory, compared to
BiCMOS.

Nevertheless, hopes are high for this high-speed, high-per-
formance microprocessor. This prototype may show that digi-
tal GaAs is ready for ultralarge-scale ICs and that it is possible
to build GaAs logic circuits that will operate over a wide tem-
perature environment.

Toward Smaller and Faster Machines

If, as some people believe, silicon- and GaAs-based devices
will ultimately reach their size and speed scaling limits, sig-
nificant opportunities will open up for microprocessors using

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CircU 332 on Header Service Card NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 349

FEATURE
CHIPS FOR THE NINETIES AND BEYOND

COMPANY

INFORMATION

Operational data on the chips discussed in this article was

provided by the manufacturers. For more information.

contact the companies listed below.

Adaptive Solutions, Inc.

Mitsubishi Electronics

1400 Northwest Compton

1050 East Arques Ave.

Dr. , Suite 340

Sunnyvale, CA 94086

Beaverton, OR 97006

(408) 730-5900

(503) 690-1236

Inquiry 1009.

Inquiry 1003.

National Semiconductor

Bellcore

2900 Semiconductor Dr.

290 West Mount Pleasant

P.O. Box 58090

Ave.

Santa Clara, CA 95052

Room lB-147

(408) 721-5000

Livingston, NJ 07039

Inquiry 1010.

(201) 740-4324

Inquiry 1004.

Nestor, Inc.

1 Richmond Sq.

caiiiornia scientitic

Providence, RI 02906

Software

(401) 331-9640

10141 Evening Star Dr.,

Inquiry 1011.

Suite 6

Grass Valley, CA 95945

Texas Instruments

(916) 477-7481

Defense Systems and

Inquiry lUUs.

Electronics Group

P.O. Box 650311

Computer Cowboys

MS 3926

410 Star Hill Rd.

Dallas, TX 75265

Woodside CA 94062

(214) 917-7698

(415) 851-4362

Inquiry 1012.

Inquiry 1006.

Togai InfraLogic, Inc.

jkj v_orporaic r^aiK,

P.O. Box 883

Suite 107

MS 62A-021

Irvine, CA 92714

Melbourne, FL 32902

(714) 975-8522

(800) 442-7747

Inquiry 1013.

Inquiry 1007.

University of California

Intel Corp.

at Irvine

2250 Mission College

600 Administration

Blvd.

Irvine, CA 92717

Mail Stop SC9-40

(714) 856-6922

Santa Clara, CA 95052

Inquiry 1014.

(408) 765-9235

Inquiry 1008.

alternative technologies. Processors developed using Joseph-
son junction (Jj) superconducting technology stand a good
chance of being serious contenders.

Jj technology is based on the use of tunnel junctions (a kind
of quantum-mechanical switch) made with a thin layer of insu-
lating material. This insulator is sandwiched between layers of
a superconducting material cooled to an extremely low tem-
perature. Liquid helium is the coolant that is currently used. Jjs
can switch voltages extremely quickly while consuming only a
small fraction of the energy that conventional devices need (see
figure 4).

On the road to developing smaller and faster computers that
feature high switching rates and very low power consumption,

many U.S. universities, as well as companies like AT&T,
TRW, Westinghouse, duPont, Conductus, and Hypres, are
working with superconducting technology. But superconduct-
ing ventures undertaken by dozens of Japanese companies and
organizations are eclipsing U.S. endeavors in this field. These
efforts have already resulted in prototype chips and other ele-
ments based on Jj technology.

In 1983, IBM abandoned its attempts to develop Jj products
because it decided that commercialization of the technology
would take too much time and cost too much money. About that
time, as part of its fifth-generation computing effort, the Japa-
nese government beefed up its interest in, and sponsorship of, Jj
technology.

Several Japanese governmental agencies, such as the Minis-
try of International Trade and Industry, the Japanese Research
Development Corp., and the Electrotechnical Laboratory,
launched serious endeavors focused on developing Jj products.
A couple of these undertakings, including that by ETL and one
called ERATO (for Exploratory Research for Advanced Tech-
nology)— an offshoot of JRDC— have paid off in Jj chips. So
have some of the many private efforts by companies like Fu-
jitsu, NEC, and Hitachi.

ETL has reportedly developed a 1 -kilobit Josephson memory
chip in which 90 percent of the cells can be accessed by the
peripheral circuit. ETL has also announced completion of a
four-chip, Jj-based RISC microcomputer that processes most
instructions in 1 ns and consumes only about 6.2 milliwatts
(mW) of power.

ERATO is taking a new look at a device called the quantum
flux parametron, developed about 30 years ago, that uses the
Josephson junction. QFP researchers are exploring the possibil-
ity of producing an ultrafast computer using this technology.

Fujitsu has demonstrated a single-chip, 4-bit Jj microproces-
sor with roughly 3000 gates and approximately 12 instructions
stored in an on-chip ROM module. Its maximum clock fre-
quency is said to be 1.1 gigahertz, with a minuscule energy
consumption of only 6. 1 mW. Hitachi has also reported having
developed a microprocessor similar to Fujitsu's in complexity
and performance.

This past spring, NEC scientists announced development of
a 4-kilobit Josephson memory with a memory read-out time of
580 ps (0.58 ns). Comprising about 25,000 Josephson ele-
ments, the NEC chip measures 5 mm square, with a cell size of
55 microns square.

A Ticket to Tomorrow

With the advent of new superconductive materials that can be
used with higher-temperature coolants (liquid nitrogen, for in-
stance), a number of experimental Jj processors, switches, A/D
converters, and even computers are arriving on the scene. At
the moment, niobium and niobium nitride are the most promis-
ing superconductors of choice, while aluminum oxide, niobium
oxide, and manganese oxide are the three most commonly used
insulators.

Many difficult material problems (as well as a lack of prog-
ress in related memory technology) remain to be solved. But
scientists may produce the next generation of chips and com-
puters using Jj, SQUID (for superconducting quantum interfer-
ence device), and QFP superconducting techniques. Circuits
using these technologies may run faster, use less power, occupy
less space, and in other ways outperform their conventional
electronic counterparts. ■

Janet J. Barron is a technical editor for BYTE. She can be
reached on BIX as "neural. "

350 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Bugs

^ are expensive

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Modem
Business

A close look at the Bell and CCITT standards
for modem communications

Steven E. Turner

ending and receiving files over modem connec-

Stions is a routine procedure for most personal
computer users. It's not unusual, however, to
find modems that can't communicate effective-
ly because of compatibility problems— they
don't all follow the same standards.

For users, just understanding modem standards can be a
problem. The maze of modem standards grows constantly.
Look at modem advertisements and you'll see a long list— Bell
103J, Bell 212A, V.22, V.22bis, V.32— not to mention propri-
etary technology and protocols that are licensed by individual
companies.

These standards cover a variety of transmission speeds and
such features as error correction and data compression. The
modem standards in use today come primarily from three
sources: Bell Standards, CCITT Recommendations, or EIA/
TIA Standards. (For definitions and an explanation of how mo-
dem standards are established, see the text box "Where Modem
Standards Come From" on page 354.) Table 1 shows the most
common modem standards for data rates of from 300 bps to
14,400 bps, over leased-line and dial-up telephone lines.

Low-Speed Standards

The most common low-speed standards in use are the Bell 103J
standard for 300-bps transmission and the Bell 212A standard
for 1200-bps transmission. Almost every modem sold in the
U.S. supports these standards, either as the primary rate or as
secondary fallback rates. Fallback rates are used when the mo-
dem is unable to connect at higher rates, usually because the
telephone channel is too noisy to provide error-free communi-
cation at that rate. For example, if a modem attempts to connect
at 2400 bps but determines that the line will not support that
rate, the modem may try to connect at 1200 bps or 300 bps
instead.

The Bell 103J and 212A standards are two-wire, full-duplex
standards. This means that modems that support those stan-
dards use ordinary telephone lines, and they transmit and re-

ceive data in both directions simultaneously. Even at 1200 bps
(212A), the data rate is low enough that the data channel for
both directions of transmission can fit comfortably within the
3000-Hz-wide voiceband telephone channel.

Because the CCITT was developing international standards
during the 1960s (while Bell was defining U.S. standards),
most 1200-bps modems in the rest of the world operate using a
standard known as V.22. This is similar to the Bell 212A stan-
dard, but the carrier frequencies at which the data channels are
modulated are different. Thus, V.22 modems and 212A mo-
dems are not compatible, unless special design changes are in-
corporated.

For 2400-bps transmission, most personal computer mo-
dems in use today implement V.22bis. The Bell Standard for
2400-bps data was never completely accepted, because at the
time the telephone company's monopoly was dissolved, 2400-
bps transmission wasn't yet perfected. As a result, there is al-
most universal compatibility among 2400-bps modems based
on V.22bis.

Like the lower-speed standards, V.22bis is a two-wire (dial-
up line), full-duplex standard. To fit two 2400-bps data chan-
nels in the 3000-Hz-wide voiceband telephone channel, the
data bits are encoded into 4-bit bytes before transmission. Each
data signal is then transmitted at 600 baud, and the two modem
channels can again fit comfortably within the telephone-line
channel.

High-Speed Standards Grow

Prior to 1984, modem transmission at speeds above 2400 bps
was possible only by transferring the data over expensive four-
wire (leased) telephone lines. Special standards, such as Bell
208 for 4800 bps, V.29 for 9600 bps, and V.33 for 14,400 bps,
were available for use with these leased lines. However, only
users needing to transfer very large amounts of data could justi-
fy the cost of leasing the telephone lines and buying the more
expensive modems.
In 1984, the CCITT approved V.32 for use with standard

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 353

FEATURE
MODEM BUSINESS

Where Modem Standards Come From

To grasp the conglomeration of mo-
dem standards, some understand-
ing of where they come from and how
they are made is important. The modem
standards in use today come primarily
from three sources. The modulation and
coding standards are normally Bell
Standards or CCITT Recommenda-
tions. The interface standards are either
CCITT Recommendations or Electron-
ic Industry Association/Telecommuni-
cations Industry Association (EIA/
TIA) Standards.

The Bell Standards are holdovers
from the 1960s when all domestic mo-
dem standards were set exclusively by
the telephone company. In those days,
the telephone company had a monopoly
on anything connected to its lines, and,
by law, it was the only one allowed to
sell modems. As a result, it set its own
design standards.

The 1968 Carterphone court decision
opened the door for other manufac-
turers to begin making modems, and
the method of standards-making

changed. Since modems used in other
countries at that time generally fol-
lowed international standards, U.S.
manufacturers became involved in help-
ing develop those standards instead of
creating a new set of standards specifi-
cally for the U.S.

Today, most new modem standards
are created by the CCITT, based in Ge-
neva, Switzerland, and affect modem
users worldwide. In the U.S., modem
experts participate in national stan-
dards development groups, such as the
TIA, to create those standards needed
solely for U.S. interests. They also gen-
erate technical papers and proposals for
the international CCITT organization
and join technical experts from other
countries in attending CCITT meetings.

Together, these groups work out the
fine details of new international modem
standards. However, when it comes
time to vote on the new standards, each
member country is granted only one
vote. An official of the U.S. Depart-
ment of State (the formal representative

to the CCITT) casts the U.S. vote.

Many standards efforts never make it
to a vote because of technical problems
or political snags along the way. As a re-
suh, those that do reach approval are
usually well-tested and proven tech-
niques that can be applied around the
globe. Once a standard is adopted by the
CCITT, modem makers begin imple-
menting it in their products.

One interesting feature of CCITT
"standards" is that they are called Rec-
ommendations. The CCITT cannot
force modem manufacturers to comply
with its procedures; rather, it recom-
mends an approach. However, in many
countries where the telephone network
is operated exclusively by the govern-
ment, CCITT Recommendations have
the full force of telecommunications
law. In such cases, all modems con-
nected to the network must comply ex-
plicitly with the appropriate CCITT
Recommendations. In practice, world-
wide adherence to CCITT Recommen-
dations is the norm.

dial-up telephone lines. V.32 leapfrogged from 2400 bps to
9600 bps, representing a 4-to-l increase in throughput over
modems using V.22bis. Using advanced technology to provide
9600-bps transmission over ordinary telephone lines, V.32 put
the everyday personal computer user in the high-speed data
business for the first time by opening new doors to sharing files
and programs rapidly over modem connections.

V.32 Specifics

The technology required to implement V.32 modems did not
come easily. The level of technical expertise needed in devel-

MODEM STANDARDS

Table 1 : Many standards and recommendations govern
how modems are designed. These standards allow
modems from many different manufacturers to
communicate with one another. An asterisk indicates
"with echo cancellation. "

Data rate

Standard

Line

Duplex

(bps)

300

Bell 103 J

Dial-up

Full

1200

Bell 21 2A

Dial-up

Full

Bell 202

Dial-up

Half

Bell 202

Leased

Full

CCITT V.22

Dial-up

Full

2400

CCITT V.22bis

Dial-up

Full

CCITT V.26ter

Dial-up

Full*

4800

Bell 208

Leased

Full

9600

CCITT V.29

Leased

Full

CCITT V.32

Dial-up

Full*

14,400

CCITT V.33

Leased

Full

oping V.32 modems has been conservatively estimated to be
100 times greater than for V.22bis modems. As a result, fully
functional V.32 modems did not become widely available until
late 1986— two years after V.32 was adopted.

To send 9600-bps data, V.32 modems group the data into 4-
bit bytes and transmit them at 2400 baud. Since there is room
for only one 2400-baud data channel within the 3000-Hz-wide
telephone channel, V.32 calls for both modems to transmit
over the same channel at the same time. Each modem must then
sort out its own transmitted signal from the signal it is receiving
from the other modem. To do this, V.32 modems use echo can-
celers. Figure 1 shows a typical modem connection, with the
echo cancelers included in the modems at each end.

Hybrid circuits inside all modems are designed to match the
characteristics of the modem to the telephone line. Since the
nature of the telephone network changes constantly, this match
is never ideal. This results in part of a modem's transmitted
signal being reflected through the hybrid and back into the
modem's receiver.

In addition, echoes of the transmitted signal from the hybrid
circuits out in the telephone network bounce back into the
modem's receiver. To get a good strong received signal, these
reflected echoes must be removed before the modem receiver
processes its input.

The echo canceler, which is driven by the known transmitted
signal, models the echoes produced by hybrid circuits in the
modem and the network. The output of the echo canceler is sub-
tracted from the received signal before it goes into the modem
receiver for processing, thus eliminating the effects of the ech-
oes. This is not a simple task. The precision that is required in
the echo canceler to remove the echoes is substantial. Since the
transmit signal is constantly fluctuating with changes in the
data, the echo canceler must continuously adapt to those

354 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

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ESP™

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Of course, Hayes ESP also provides all the
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FEATURE
MODEM BUSINESS

To ,

computer

Transmitter — \

3...

Echo
cancel

ECHO CANCELLATION

Hybrid

Receiver

Four-wire

Hybrid

carrier

circuit

Hybrid

Local (near-end) modem

Two-wire
local loop

Two-wire
local loop

To
computer

Remote (far-end) modem

Figure 1: In all modem connections, the computer output signal is sent directly to the modem for transmission over the telephone
line. A typical dial-up telephone-line modem connection requires the modem signal to pass through two-wire local-loop channels
to the telephone company 's nearby central office. From there, it travels over a four-wire circuit to the other end of the
connection. The signal then passes through the distant modem 's receiver to the computer at the other end. Hybrid circuits
connect the two-wire /four-wire links and isolate the transmit and receive signals in the modems. In high-speed modems, such as
V. 32 modems, an echo canceler is used to further isolate the transmit and receive signals and improve signal reception.

changes as it mimics the transmitted signal's echo.

Since at any given moment a V.32 modem is transmitting
more data than a lower-speed modem, the individual V.32 data
signals are much weaker and harder to detect. For this reason,
V.32 incorporates advanced coding techniques such as trellis
encoding. Trellis encoding allows the modem to examine sev-
eral consecutive received signals and look for known patterns
before deciding the value of the signal.

This memory effect can produce dramatic reductions in the
error rate. The end result is that well-made V.32 modems pro-
duce very low error rates and provide reliable, high-speed data
transfer between modems. This allows personal computer
users to trade programs and download files at rates unimagined
in the early 1980s.

In an attempt to push technology barriers even further, the
CCITT began, in 1989, to study the idea of extending V.32 up
to a 14,400-bps rate. This standard was named V.32bis, since
it represented an outgrowth of V.32 rather than a new idea.
V.32bis requires even better echo cancelers than does V.32. It
also requires an overall improvement in receiver quality. Test-
ing has shown, however, that 14,400-bps transmission over
standard telephone lines is quite feasible with proper modem
design.

V.32bis is expected to be formally approved by the CCITT
by mid-1991. Once adopted, V.32bis will open the door even
wider for very fast data transfer between personal computers.
A summary of new and evolving modem standards and their
status is detailed in table 2.

Data-Manipulation Standards

With the basic modulation rates approaching the theoretical
limits of telephone-line channels, modem makers and the
CCITT have turned to new ways of improving performance and
increasing the data rates. The two most important steps in this
direction are V.42 for error correction, and its companion,
V.42bis, for data compression.

The error-correction and data-compression functions are ap-
plied to the data before modulation and stripped off before the
modem receiver decodes the data at the other end. An ex-
panded view of these functions inside the modem is depicted in
figure 2.

At high speeds, modems are prone to making more errors,

not only because of the reduced power in high-speed modem
signals, but also because they use the edges of the bandwidth
(which tend to be noisier) to carry data. V.42, formally ap-
proved in 1988, provides error correction using the automatic
repeat request (ARQ) principle.

Under ARQ, data is grouped into blocks at the transmitter,
and an advanced cyclic redundancy check is applied across
each block. This is the same CRC concept already used to en-
sure the integrity of file transfers in techniques such as XMO-
DEM. The main difference is that V.42 provides error-cor-
rected operation for all information exchanges, not just file
transfers using specific computer software programs. Since the
technique for checking the received data and retransmitting
flawed blocks is contained directly in the modem itself, it is
completely transparent to the user and speeds up the transfer
process.

The main drawback of V.42, as with any error-correction
technique, is that when numerous errors are detected, the
throughput rate suffers as blocks of data are retransmitted.
However, this only comes into play when errors are actually
present, and even then the slowdown in the transfer rate is a
small price to pay for the capability to identify and correct
those errors.

Modems equipped with V.42 were originally introduced in
late 1988 in V.22bis products. It is now widely available in
V.32 modems as well.

Data Compression with V.42bis

Approved in late 1989, V.42bis provides the first "official"
method for compressing and decompressing data in modems.
(Several proprietary compression techniques have been avail-
able for some time, the most notable being Microcom's MNP
level 5 technique.)

As with V.42, the CCITT adopted a technique similar to
those already in use in the computer industry when it selected a
method for V.42bis. This method is a variant of the Lempel-
Ziv compression algorithm, the same type of compression used
in the familiar .ARC and .ZIP techniques.

However, instead of applying only to files compressed in ad-
vance, V.42bis performs automatic, real-time compression and
decompression on all the data flowing between the modems.
This can bring about dramatic reductions in the amount of time

356 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

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Circle 21 7 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 218)

FEATURE
MODEM BUSINESS

ING STANDARDS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Table 2; The U.S. TIA and international CCITT committees continue to develop new modem recommendations. Here is a
list of recent recommendations and important ones currently under development. The V. 32bis Recommendation will likely
be approved in mid-1991; it will provide for 14,400-bps file and data transfer over standard telephone lines.

Standard

Purpose

Status

CCITT V.32bis Fallback Procedure
U.S./TIA Fallback Procedure

Provides a standardized way of
negotiating fallback data rates from
1 4,400 bps down to 2400 bps.

Provides a standardized way of
negotiating fallback data rates from
14,400 bps down to 300 bps, including
the Bell 103J standard.

Technically agreed upon but not yet
formally adopted.

Under study by the U.S. TIA TR-30.1
Committee.

CCITT V.32bis Recommendation

CCITT v. 42 Recommendation

CCITT V,42bis Recommendation

CCITT 19.2K-bpsDial-Up
Modem Recommendation

Provides standardized dial-up modems
at rates of up to 1 4,400 bps; an
extension of V.32.

Provides standardized error correction
in modems via either MNP Level 4 or
LAPM (Link Access Procedure for
Modems) protocol.

Provides standardized data compression
in modems via a version of the
Lempel-Ziv data-compression algorithm.

Provides standardized dial-up
modem communications at rates of
up to 19,200 bps.

Under study by the CCITT Study Group

XVII Committee.

Possible approval by mid-1991.

Approved, April 1988.

Approved, September 1989.

Under study by the CCITT Study
Group XVII Committee.

ERROR CORRECTION AND
DATA COMPRESSION

I — Modem | —^

Telephone channel
I

Modem

Computer/
terminal

Computer/
terminal

V.42bis

V.42

data-

error-

compression

control

Signal

function

function

Interchange

converter

circuits

Control function

Figure 2: Many new modems now use the CCITT V.42 error-
correction and V. 42bis data-compression Recommendations.
In the modem, these functions are located in the overall
control processor and are applied to the signal between the
computer and the signal converter (modulator/demodulator).
Modems at both ends of the connection must have V. 42 and
V. 42bis capability for these features to be used.

needed to send and receive data. For example, it is possible to
achieve up to 4-to-l compression ratios with V.42bis. That
could mean effective rates of up to 38,400 bps with a V.32 mo-
dem or rates even greater than the 56,000 bps offered by digital
leased-line service when used with a V.32bis modem. The ad-
vantages of reducing the time required to transmit files across a
modem connection by a factor of four are obvious, especially if
the telephone call is long distance.

The amount of compression that V.42bis can actually pro-
vide depends on the type of data being transmitted. Compres-
sion algorithms work by recognizing repeated patterns in data
and substituting shorter symbols for them. This reduces the
number of characters needed to represent a given set of infor-
mation. The more repetition a data file has, the greater the
compression. On the other hand, purely random data contains
no patterns at all, and it is noncompressible.

Figure 3 provides a comparison of how well V.42bis works
on various types of data. Assembly language and computer
source code contain many short, repeated commands, since the
language has a limited command set. As a result, data compres-
sion ratios on these types of files are generally quite high. Con-
versely, precompressed files such as .ARC or .ZIP files have
already been processed to remove redundancy. Passing them
through V.42bis usually does not provide much more improve-
ment. Data files that have been encrypted through a randomiza-
tion process will also show little reduction in file size and trans-
mit time, because the data has been preprocessed to remove
identifiable patterns. For the average personal computer user,
however, V.42bis should reduce modem signaling time and ex-
pense considerably.

V.42bis began appearing in modem products this summer,
first in V.22bis modems and later in V.32 modems. Many of
the first V.32bis modems will have V.42bis compression capa-
bility as soon as they hit the market.

V.42bis relies on V.42 for its modem protocol and control

358 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

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DATA-COMPRESSION COMPARISON

Assembly language
Pictures/images
Precompressed (.ARC)
Random data
Program source code
Spreadsheet/database
ASCII text

0 12 3 4

Average output compression ratio

Figure 3: The amount of data compression that V.42bis can
provide depends on the type of data being sent between the
modems. The more random the data, the less the compression,
since truly random data follows no clear pattern. Data that
has lots of repetition (such as text, source code, or pictures)
can often be highly compressed. A compression ratio of 2. 0 on
this chart indicates that the data can be compressed by a factor
of 2 and transmitted in half the time needed to transmit it
uncompressed.

functions. Because of this, only those modems that have V.42
will contain V.42bis. Fortunately, since V.42bis is a software-
intensive technique, it doesn't require extensive modem rede-
sign, and most modem makers are offering it in their products
at a minimal increase in cost.

Standards to Watch For

The CCITT is continuing to develop new modem standards,
pushing the technology envelope a little further each time. A
new effort is under way to standardize a 19,200-bps modem.
Another CCITT standard currently under development will
provide a uniform interworking procedure to ensure that mo-
dems implementing a number of different standards can com-
municate.

For example, if a V.32 modem calls a V.22bis modem, the
new interworking protocol provides a way for the V.32 modem
to identify the receiving modem's standard and fall back to
V.22bis mode to match it. While many modems are already
capable of this, there is no standardized format to ensure that
all modems do it in the same way. The new interworking stan-
dard should improve compatibility by increasing conformity.
Expect the new interworking scheme to begin appearing in
modems by 1991.

Another important standards issue that the CCITT expects
to take up soon involves interworking between cellular mo-
dems and regular telephone-line modems. There is currently
no accepted way to guarantee that these modems can communi-
cate, but with the explosive growth of cellular technology and
the increased mobility of laptop computers, this will become a
major issue in a few years. Hopefully, the CCITT will finalize
a standard to solve this problem soon. ■

Steven E. Turner is manager of technical staff research at UDS
Motorola (Huntsville, AL), which manufacturers modems. He
participates in several TIA and CCITT committees that develop
modem standards. He can be reached on BIX do "editors. "

360 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990 CircU 93 on Reader Service Card

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FEATURE

PART 2

A Knowledge
Engineering
Toolkit

Your own knowledge engineering toolkit
for building expert systems

Marc Eisenstadt and Mike Brayshaw

s we discussed in last month's installment,

A there is a difference between knowledge engi-
neering shells and toolkits. The shells are
ready-made solutions and, as such, are restric-
tive. With this freely available toolkit, MIKE
(which stands for Micro Interpreter for Knowledge Engineer-
ing), you can build your own solutions to knowledge engineer-
ing problems.

This month we continue with our account of the implementa-
tion and use of MIKE. For this discussion, it is important to
keep in mind that the knowledge base is maintained in struc-
tured representations, called frames, that are rendered more
readable in MIKE by declaring keywords and symbols such as
with, instance_of, and the colon (:) to be infix operators.
Frames can then be stored as ordinary database facts, as in the
following:

f red_smlth lnstance_of person with
age: 40,

citizenship: UK,
weight: 160,

occupations : [teacher, lifeguard, parent] .
Inheritance

Inheritance is a recursive search along lnstance_of and sub-
class_of relations. Finding answers to queries frequently re-
quires no more than a simple fetch of the appropriate database
fact. For example, if we want to know Fred Smith's weight,
given the representation presented earlier, we can find it out
directly from the stored frame for Fred Smith because the slot:
filler pair weight : 160 is stored there. We explained in last
month's section entitled "Frames as Database Facts" that the
essential innards of the frame representation could be obtained
with a query such as ?- fred_smith lnstance_of X with Y,
and that the variable Y would contain the relevant information.
The crucial step, then, is to search along the conjunction of slot:
filler pairs until a successful match is found. Failing that, an-

other possibility is to look further up in the class hierarchy
(e.g., under the frame for person) to see if an appropriate
value can be "inherited."

When developing the code to carry out our intentions, we
first define a "surface form" for the user's benefit, and an in-
ternal form that actually does the work. The surface form we
would like you to use is as follows:

?- the weight of fred_smlth is X.

The relevant Prolog code is in listing 1 , assuming our operators
had already been defined as in last month's listings. The first
clause converts the surface form into our internal form. The
two clauses of fetch cater to the cases in which the object is
stored either as an lnstance_of something or as a subclass_
of something.

The real work is done by the clauses of retrieve and, in
particular, by its final argument. The first clause of retrieve
represents the case where the slot:filler pair Attr : Val (a) just
happens to be the only slot: filler pair, (b) has a filler that is not
a list (i.e., does not syntactically match the form [_|_]), and
(c) is a successful match with the slot:filler pair we are search-
ing for.

The second clause is similar, but in this case, the slot:filler
pair Attr : Val is the very first pair in the (possibly long) con-
junction of many. The third and fourth clauses are analogous to
the first and second, but cater to the case when the filler is a list
of values, such as [teacher, lifeguard, parent], and it is
therefore necessary to invoke member to see whether Val is a
member of the list of Vals.

The fifth clause of retrieve optimistically tries to do more
of the same, but this time matching against Rest (i.e., all but
the very first of the slot:filler pairs). This is a standard cliche in
Prolog, used for traversing lists or conjunctions of items.

The final clause of retrieve is reached only when the first
five have failed. It invokes fetch, but this time passing in
Super as the first argument to fetch, so that the searching ac-

364 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

FEATURE

tivity begins with the superordinate object in the class hier-
archy (e.g., person, in the case of fred_smith). This provides
for the cases when the slot: filler pair is not retrievable for a
given object, so an attempt is made to retrieve the information
further up the chain— this is essentially what "inheritance"
means.

There are some important details that are omitted here, espe-
cially the problem of what to do when there is a conflict be-
tween "directly stored" slot:filler pairs and inherited slot:
filler pairs. MIKE handles this correctly (e.g., the knowledge
that "an ostrich cannot fly" overrides the knowledge that
"birds can fly"), as illustrated in the commented MIKE source
code. [Editor's note: The Open University's MIKE source code
and Expert Systems' Prolog interpreter are available in elec-
tronic format. See page 5 for details. ]

Backward Chaining in MIKE

MIKE'S implementation of backward chaining is straightfor-
ward because it merely requires an invocation of the basic Pro-
log proof procedure. There are four main cases to deal with:

• Conjunction of goals (e.g., ' it is raining' & ' it is cold'
8t 'it is Tuesday'). The technique is to invoke the proof pro-
cedure recursively on the first conjunct, and then on the re-
maining conjuncts.

• Frame access (e.g., the age of John is 32). The technique
is to invoke the workhorse predicate fetch.

•Ordinary working-memory element (e.g., 'it is rain-
ing'). Working-memory elements such as 'it is raining'
are stored internally using the predicate wm, so we just need to
see whether wm(patteri: ) succeeds.

• Anything else. The technique is to try to find a stored rule
whose conclusion matches the argument passed to prove and
then recursively prove the premises of that rule.

These four cases map precisely onto the four clauses of prove,
shown in listing 2.

Forward Chaining

Forward chaining searches for the first rule that has all its con-
ditions already satisfied. It represents opportunistic processing
(in contrast to goal-directed processing). The basic processing
technique is to find any rule, all of whose left-side patterns
(premises) are satisfied (i.e., in working memory), and then
perform the associated RHS (right-hand-side) actions of that
rule. The next thing is to do more forward chaining.

Successful termination occurs when the symbol halt is
placed into working memory. The three clauses shown in list-
ing 3 capture this processing concept concisely, with the final
clause merely representing the terminating condition when no
further suitable rules can be found.

As demonstrated in listing 4, a top-level goal f c (forward
chain) ensures that working memory is cleared up prior to exe-
cution and places the special symbol start in working memory
before invoking the workhorse f orward_chain.

During forward chaining, a rule's left-side pattern is said to
be satisfied either by being present in working memory or by
being retrievable from frame memory. Working-memory ele-
ments are stored internally using the predicate wm, so in the
most general case we just need to see whether wm (pat tern)
succeeds. More special cases exist for dealing with patterns such
as the X of Y is Z . So the first four clauses of in_mem (listing 5)
cater for these cases while the general case is left for last.

In a pure production system interpreter, the concept of per-
forming RHS actions is restricted to adding or removing ele-
ments from working memory. In MIKE, we make this explicit
with the operators add and remove and allow other special ac-
tions as well, such as announce and halt. The first clause of
listing 6 handles conjunctions of RHS elements, while the sec-
ond and third clauses deal with adding and removing working-
memory elements, respectively. The fourth clause provides for
cosmetic printout routines, and the final clause adds the special
symbol halt to working memory for the benefit of the for-
ward_chain workhorse routine.

Other cases of RHSes are dealt within the full implementa-

ILLUSTRATION: JAMES ENDICOTT © 1990

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 365

FEATURE

A KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING TOOLKIT, PART 2

Listing 1: Fetching from the database. The first clause
converts the surface form into our internal form. The
two clauses o/ fetch cater to the cases in which the
object is stored either as an instance_of something or
when it is stored as a subclass_of something.

the Attribute of Object is Value :-

%

Surface form for user.

fetoh(0bjeot, Attribute, Value).

%

Our internal form.

fetoh(Object, Attribute, Value) :-

%

Here's its definition.

(Object instance_of SuperObject

%

Get stored frame.

with Stuff),

retrieve (Ob j ect. Attribute, Value,

%

Invoke real workhorse.

SuperObject, Stuff).

fetoh(Objeot, Attribute, Value) :-

%

Alternatively,

(Object subclass_of Class

%

stored frame might

with Stuff),

%

be found here

retrieve{Object, Attribute, Value,

%

so invoke real

Class, Stuff).

%

workhorse.

retrieve(Obj , Attr, Val, Super,

%

Direct hit (single

(AttrrVal)) :-

%

slot: filler).

not(Val =[_(_]).

%

Assumes singleton

%

value, not a list.

retrleve(Obj , Attr, Val, Super,

i

Direct hit (first

(Attr:Val, Rest));-

i

slot: filler pair of

%

many) .

not(Val =[_!_]).

%

Assumes singleton

%

value, not a list.

^

(AttrrVals)) :-

%

filler, which is a

%

list.

member(Val, Vals).

%

so see that Val is on

%

list of Vals.

retrleve(Obj , Attr, Val, Super,

%

First pair of many,

(Attr:Vals, Rest)) :-

%

filler is a list.

member ( Val , Vals ) .

%

so see that Val is

%

on list of Vals.

retrieve(Obj , Attr, Val, Super,

%

Last arg is nasty

(_:_, Rest)) :-

%

conj unct.

retrieve(Obj , Attr, Val, Super,

%

so traverse it,

Rest).

%

searching for direct

%

hit.

retrieve(Obj , Attr, Val,

%

Direct hits must have

Super, _) :-

%

failed.

fetch(Super, Attr, Val).

%

so recursively check

%

out the superset!

Listing 2: Examples of conjunct

on of goals, frame

access, ordinary working-memory element, and

conclusion of a rule.

prove(First & Rest)

%

Conjunction of goals.

prove(First) ,

%

so prove the first

%

one,

prove(Rest).

%

then prove the rest.

prove (the Attribute of Object

%

Frame access.

is Value) :-

fetch(Objeot, Attribute, Value).

%

so invoke frame-

%

access workhorse.

prove(Pattern) :-

%

A pattern is

%

•satisfied'

wni(Pattern).

%

if it is stored

%

in 'working memory. '

prove(Conclusion) :-

%

A conclusion can be

%

proved by retrieving

(rule R backward if Premises

%

a rule in which it

then Conclusion) ,

%

appears

prove(Premises).

%

and then proving

%

that rule's premises.

366 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

Listing 3: Forward chaining searches for the first rule.

which has all its conditions already satisfied.

forward_chain :-

% Deliberate

% termination occurs if

wm(halt).

% the symbol 'halt' is

% added to working

% memory.

nl, write( 'Successful

% so inform user

termination. ' ) , nl.

% accordingly.

forward_chain :-

(rule RuleName forward if LHS

% Find a rule.

then RHS),

% all of whose

% left-side patterns

all_in_mem(LHS),

% are satisfied.

not ( aiready_did (RuleName , LHS) ) ,

% and which we haven't

% already performed,

per form (RHS),

% then perform

% associated right-

it hand-side actions.

assert(already_did(RuleName,LHS) ) ,

% Make a note to avoid

% repeating this

% exact case.

forward_chain.

% then carry on

% forward- chaining.

for¥ard_chain :-

% This case only

% reached when above

% clause fails.

nl,

% so inform user

write('No (more) applicable rules.'

) ,% accordingly.

nl.

tion of MIKE, including those that let you perform arbitrary
calls to Prolog code. But MIKE still needs to include a few
bells and whistles.

The code given so far is sufficient to provide only the barest
bones of a toy implementation of MIKE. We have presented the
essence of the code to give you a feel for the basic concepts in-
volved. In addition to providing numerous efficiency improve-
ments (including protection against mindless backtracking),
the full implementation has to deal with many conceptual ex-
tras, like true defaults, facets, conflict resolution, fast forward
chaining, daemons, explanation facilities, and tracing.

True Defaults

Default reasoning means that we accept knowledge in the ab-
sence of information to the contrary. This requires an imple-
mentation of fetch that deals separately with instantiated and
uninstantiated variables. In the example presented in last
month's listing 1, you'll notice that the default r_and_d_bud-
gets of hlgh_tech_consumer_market are increasing (in the
absence of information to the contrary). Nevertheless, the fol-
lowing query will erroneously succeed in the implementation
just presented, even though the stored r_and_d_budgets of
home_computer_market are actually decreasing:

?- the r_and_d_budgets of
home_coraputer_market is increasing.

The query succeeds because, in the simplified implementation
shown, it is possible to prove both cases (i.e., that r_and_d
_budgets are decreasing and also that r_and_d_budgets are
increasing). In the full implementation of MIKE, the above
query correctly fails.

Facets

The implementation described above provides only for a sim-
plified slot:filler notation, whereas the full implementation of
MIKE allows a richer structure for fillers using fine-grained

FEATURE

A KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING TOOLKIT, PART 2

Listing 4: A top-level goal f orward_chain.

fc :-

% Top-level invocation.

abolish(vni", 1),

% Clear out working

% memory.

assertCwin(start) ) ,

% Add special 'start'

% symbol.

abolish (already_did, 2),

forward _cha in.

% Invoke forward_chain

% workhorse.

Listing 5: Checking to see if a rule 's left-side pattern is

either in working memory or in

frame memory.

all_in_memCFirst & Rest) :-

% Conjunction of

% left-side patterns.

in_mem(First) ,

% See if the first one

% is satisfied.

all_in_iiie!n(Rest).

% Recursively see if

% rest are satisfied.

all_in_nie[n(X) :-

% Singleton pattern.

not(X = (_ & _)),

% This ensures that it

% really is just a

% singleton, not a

% conjunction.

in_niem(X).

% See if it is stored

% in working memory

? or in frame memory.

in_niem(the Attr of Obj is Val) :-

% Patterns of this form

% require frame access.

fetch(Obj, Attr, Val).

% so invoke the

% frame-retrieval

% workhorse.

in_mein(X instance_of Y)

% This is useful for

% looking up

% instance_of

% relations.

(X instanee_of Y with _ ).

% in which case we just

% ignore the details

% following 'with.'

in_raem(X subclass_of Y) :-

% This is useful for

% looking up

% subclass_of

% relations.

(X subclass_of Y with _)

% in which case we just

% ignore the details

% following 'with.'

in _ mem (deduce X) :-

% This is how we invoke

% a backward- chaining

% rule.

prove (X).

% in which case we let

% the workhorse

% do the work.

in_mem(X) :-

% This is the usual

% case, i.e., looking

% for an arbitrary

wm(X).

% pattern.

% Just see if it is in

% the Prolog database

% in this form.

attribute descriptors called facets. For example, consider the
following frame for dog:

dog subclass_of animal with
number_of_legs : 4,
consumes: [dog_food, meat].

Here is the same frame using the richer facet notation:

dog subclass_of animal with
number_of_legs :

Listing 6: Additional RHS actions that MIKE provides

for: conjunction of elements, adding elements, removing

elements, cosmetic printout, and a trap for halt.

perforraCFirst & Rest) :-

% Conjunction of rlght-

% hand-side patterns.

perform(First) ,

% Do the first one

% (this will involve

i one of the clauses

% below).

perform(Rest).

i and then do the rest.

perform(add X) :-

% MIKE operator 'add'

% signifies 'add WM

assert(wiii(X)).

% pattern. '

% Invoke Prolog's

% assert, which stores

% pattern in database.

perform(reniove X) :-

* HIKE operator

t 'remove' signifies

% 'remove WW pattern.'

retract(wmCX)).

% Invoke Prolog's

% retract, which erases

% pattern from database.

perforni(armounce X) :-

% Cosmetic printout.

% e.g., announce

i ['hi there,' X].

wrltel(X).

% Invoke user-defined

% Prolog utility to

i perform printout.

perform (halt) :-

% Special trap for

% 'halt' action.

assert (wm(halt) ) .

% Just add pattern for

% forward _chain

% to notice.

[value: 4,
type: Integer,
cardinality: 1,
Inheritance : supersede] ,
consumes :

[value: [dog_food, meat],
inheritance : merge] .

The value facet specifies what the actual filler is, whereas the
type facet specifies a run-time restriction that traps anomalous
assertions applied to subclasses or instances of the class dog, as
the following interaction illustrates (assume we have already
stored fide lnstance_of dog):

?- note the number_of_legs of
f ido is mumble.

Warning: 'mumble' violates the
'tjrpe' facet of 'dog' for
slot 'number_of_legs ' ,
which specifies type : ' Integer ' .

The cardinality facet specifies how many values are allowed
to fill the slot. The inheritance facet allows the user to distin-
guish between values that supersede inherited values (e.g., ?-
note the number_of_legs of fido is 3 would supersede
dog's 4 legs) and those that merge with (i.e., augment) inherit-
ed values.

Consequently, the inheritance: merge specification for
slot consumes of class dog allows the inference that dogs con-
sume not only dog_f ood and meat, but also whatever is in the
consumes slot of class animal. In the full implementation of
MIKE, both simple slot:filler and complex slot: [facet: filler]
notations are allowed.

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 367

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FEATURE

A KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING TOOLKIT,
PART 2

M

IKE

incorporates three conflict-resolution
strategies and allows the user to select
combinations from among these,
or even to add more.

Conflict Resolution

The definition of f orward_chain presented here so far doesn't
specify what to do if several rules have all their left-side pat-
terns satisfied; in that event, it will choose the first one. But a
true conflict-resolution strategy requires a principled selection
of a winner.

MIKE incorporates three conflict-resolution strategies and
allows the user to select combinations from among these, or
even to add more. The supplied strategies are:

• refractoriness, which prevents identical rule instantiations
from firing multiple times,

• recency, which prefers rules that apply to the most recent-
ly added working-memory elements, and

• specificity, which prefers rules that have a greater number
of conditions on their left sides.

The simple implementation presented above simulates refrac-
toriness by means of the database flag already_did (Rule-
Name, LHS).

Fast Forward Chaining

The definition of forward_chain embodies a very naive algo-
rithm (i.e., "Find some rule and test whether all its left-side
conditions are satisfied") and incurs huge overheads when the
set of rules is large. Fast indexing algorithms (e.g., RETE and
TREAT) ensure that the only rules that ever get considered are
those whose left-side conditions involve recently modified
working-memory patterns. Future releases of MIKE will in-
corporate such an algorithm.

Daemons

Actions associated directly with specific slots in a frame object
can be invoked either when slots are accessed or when slots are
changed. In MIKE, these are specified by extra facets called
access_rule and change_rule. They use the same syntax as
MIKE's rule notation. For example, here is an access_rule
daemon that calculates (at run time) the volume of any instance
of class vessel:

vessel subclass_of object with
volume :

[value: unknown,

access_rule:
(if

the height of ?self is H &
the width of ?self is W &
the depth of ?self is D &
prolog (Vol is H*W*D)

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FEATURE

A KNOWLEDGE ENGINEERING TOOLKIT, PART 2

Listing 7: Rule graph for a sample interpreter run.

RULE NAME

lnltlalization_rule

bollingWaterJnplugKettle

boilingWater_FillKettle

boilingWater_PlugInKettle

boilingWater_SwltchOn

boilingUater_yaterBolled

ina]£ingTea_AddTeabag

maltingTea_AadBoilingWater

maiingTea_BrewlngTea

iiiakingTea_ReinoveTeaBag

makingTea_MlllcAndSugar

makingTea_MilkRequired

maltlngTea_SugarRequired

makingTea_StirrlngMil!cAndSugar

maklngTea_StirringMilk

maiingTea_StirrlngSugar

mailngTea_StliTingTea

mailngTea_TeaIsMade

CYCLE miMBER(l-13)
: 1...

*++
»+

ITEMS

DISCUSSED

MIKE

Prolog Interpreter

Part of a text/video

Supplied with MIKE;

package "Knowledge

a version ofProlog-2.

Engineering " (§PD624).

Expert Systems, Ltd.

Comes with a Prolog

Unit 12, 7 West Way

interpreter for MS-DOS.

Oxford OX2 ORD

The Open University

U.K.

Learning Material

44-865-794474

Sales Office

Inquiry 1017.

P.O. Box 188

Milton Keynes MK7 6DD

U.K.

44-908-653338

Inquiry 1016.

then

the volume of ?self Is Vol) ] .

Now, suppose you have the following instance of vessel
defined:

taiikl lnstance_of vessel with
height: 10,
width: 10,
depth: 10.

The next interaction shows the effect of invoking the ac-
cess_rule daemon:

?- the volume of tankl is What.
What = 1000.

Explanation Facilities

During execution, it is useful to be able to pose "how" and
"why" queries that specify, in a comprehensible format, how
particular conclusions are justified and why a particular ques-
tion is being asked. This capability is included in the full imple-
mentation of MIKE.

Tracing

Monitoring the details of rule execution is critical for debug-
ging purposes. MIKE provides both coarse-grained and fine-

grained views of the execution process to facilitate debugging.

The special command ?- show history produces a display
of the behavior of each rule at each cycle of execution during
forward chaining. The style of the graph is based on TRI
(Transparent Rule Interpreter), a powerful "click, point, and
zoom" rule-tracing enviromnent implemented on a Symbolics
AI workstation by our colleague, John Domingue.

In the example in listing 7, cycle numbers are shown along
the top row (with a "." for each cycle, a ":" for every fifth
cycle, and an integer for every tenth cycle). The left side of the
display shows the name of each rule. The symbols in the table
indicate the fate of each rule on each cycle. A "-I-" symbol
means that the rule entered the conflict set (i.e. , it was a poten-
tial candidate), but it was not actually fired. A "*" symbol
means that the rule not only entered the conflict set, but was
also the one selected for firing. Listing 7 is a sample history
trace showing a simple forward-chaining rule base designed to
make a cup of tea.

The Value of MIKE

MIKE forms the backbone of an Open University Study Pack
on Knowledge Engineering, which includes text and video ma-
terial that is centered around case studies of knowledge-elicita-
tion exercises, and a review of commercial knowledge engi-
neering toolkits.

MIKE fulfills three purposes in the context of the Open Uni-
versity's Knowledge Engineering course:

• It provides a "paper and pencil" surface syntax that helps to
concretize discussions about different styles of knowledge
representation;

• It provides a working implementation that encourages user
experimentation via numerous hands-on exercises; and

• It provides fully commented source code that illustrates how
to implement a knowledge engineering environment from
scratch.

In the interest of portability, a conservative subset of "Edin-
burgh-syntax" Prolog was used to develop MIKE, and graphics
were completely avoided. Even the tracing facilities are essen-
tially "glass teletype." This may seem somewhat surprising,
given our own conmiitment to state-of-the-art enviroimients for
both knowledge engineering and graphical rule tracing in Pro-
log. However, we thought it preferable to adopt a least-com-
mon-denominator strategy to encourage the most widespread
dissemination of our courseware. We are encouraging users to
modify MIKE software and to give us suggestions and im-
provements for incorporation into future iterations.

An important motive of this whole exercise has been mass
consciousness-raising. MIKE contributes to the dissemination
of knowledge engineering techniques, and the design and im-
plementation of knowledge engineering environments. ■

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The software described in this article was designed and devel-
oped under the auspices of a grant from the U.K. Science and
Engineering Research Council. The "rule graph " notation was
directly inspired by the work of our colleague, John Domingue.

Marc Eisenstadt is a professor ofAI. Mike Brayshaw is a Re-
search Fellow. Both authors work at the Human Cognition Re-
search Laboratory at the Open University in England, where
they are currently focusing on program visualization and the
Prolog programming language. They can be reached at the
Open University or on BIX do "editors. "

370 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

DBMS Case Study:

Security for the Goodwill Games "

The 1990 Goodwill Games:
2500 athletes in 22 events at
1 5 locations, drawing hundreds of thousands to watch
them perform. A show-place for international good-
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security agencies.

With only 3.000 off-duty officers to fill 30,000 as-
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And scheduling must respond to last minute changes,
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FEATURE

HOT Links

TOGO

Dynamic Data Exchange lets Windows
and OS/2 applications share data easily

Michael Vose

indows 3.0 and OS/2 Presentation Manager
(PM) endow application programs with a com-
mon look and feel. Programs running simulta-
neously almost seem to blend together. When
they employ a service called Dynamic Data Ex-
change, they functionally do. With DDE, a program can use
another program's data as though it were its own. This intimate
sharing of information promises to integrate tomorrow's pro-
grams as never before.

While graphical user interfaces (GUIs) abound these days,
DDE sets Windows and PM apart from the rest. I'll look at how
DDE works and describe how you can use it to realize a new
level of interprogram harmony.

The Information Melting Pot

Both Windows and PM can multitask different applications, as
well as instances of the same application (sharing code across
instances). PM applications can also multitask internally— a
program might dedicate one thread to menu handling and an-
other to screen updating. Furthermore, with the multiple-docu-
ment interface, a Windows or PM application can maintain sev-
eral active documents. All this concurrent activity, along with
a common look and feel across programs, encourages users to
view the system as a whole and to expect the parts— including
data— to work together.

Getting information from one program to another has always
been a thorny problem. In the character-based world of DOS,
nearly every application specifies its own unique format for
storing and displaying information. To exchange information,
you have to negotiate some sort of format conversion.

GUIs and some character-based windowing systems try to
overcome this problem with cutting and pasting. Although well
understood and useful, cutting and pasting suffers from several
limitations. It involves several steps: You have to select the in-
formation, cut or copy it, indicate a destination, and then paste
the information. Cutting and pasting can limit you to text- or
character-only information exchanges. Additional information

(in the case of text, fonts and emphasis) often doesn't survive
the transfer. Most important, information exchanged by cutting
and pasting is static; if the original information changes, you
have to redo the data exchange.

DDE addresses these information-exchange inadequacies.
As its name implies, DDE enables programs to share informa-
tion even as the information changes. In addition, DDE oper-
ates automatically once a user connects one or more applica-
tions.

The programming team that wrote Microsoft Excel invented
DDE to show how to use Windows' message-based interpro-
cess-communications facilities. Windows incorporated DDE in
version 2.0; PM had it from the start. (A special dynamic link
library to implement DDE under Windows 1 .0 appeared just
before Windows 2.0 was released.) DDE extends the message-
based architecture of Windows and PM. Developers can incor-
porate DDE, which is a documented protocol for interprocess
communication, into any Windows or PM program. Such pro-
grams can then exchange information whenever instructed to
do so.

DDE's Many Uses

Although DDE has been around for some time, not many pro-
grams use it yet. The programs that do support DDE illustrate a
variety of information-exchange scenarios:

• Stock reports with hot links to real-time data. With a telecom-
munications hookup to a stock-reporting service like Lotus
Signal (which uses an FM radio sideband to transmit stock
data), a DDE-capable spreadsheet receives data from a stock-
tracking program, records every change in the price of one or
more stocks, and recalculates the value of a portfolio.

• On-line airline reservations. A network of PCs links a reser-
vation database to a graphics program showing an up-to-date
diagram of the available seats on any scheduled flight. This ap-
plication uses a background "redirector" that intercepts DDE
traffic, converts it to the appropriate network protocol, and

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 373

FEATURE
HOT LINKS TO GO

Insert Eield Tijpe: DistTycMsns:

Connents

♦

Create date

Data

Date

DDE

DDE Auto

Edit tine

L

GK

_ [ Cancel )

[ ma ]

Field Code: DDEflUTO app-nane file-nane [place-refefence]

ddeauto excel test.xls r3c5

Type progran name, file name; optional place

Screen 1: This is the Word edit box for creating a field in a
document. This example creates a DDE field that links a cell
in an Excel spreadsheet to a Word document.

Microso«Word|P.eview|

File Edit View Insert Format Utilities Macro Window Help

{ddeeuto excel test.xls r3c5}

Pg 1 Sec 1 1/1 jflt 1.1" in 2 Col 1 [ lillll

i f ^

Par<ljfush-DDEnG4KX

Screen 2: In this Word document, the DDE field displays
the DDE application topic and item names. Alternatively, it
could show the value of the referenced spreadsheet cell.

sends it across tiie network to anotiier station wliere a similar
redirector converts it back to DDE.

• Compound documents. These are DDE-linked word process-
ing elements that each manipulate a separate document but
share some common text with each other and are thereby always
up-to-date— even if the individual documents are on different
machines on a network.

• Data queries across applications. A spreadsheet queries a
database for information that updates itself whenever the data-
base changes. The PM version of AutoCAD uses this kind of
DDE link to let an Excel spreadsheet's materials worksheet
control an AutoCAD drawing.

• Links to remote mainframes. DDE-capable communication
programs link mainframe databases to PC-based spreadsheets
or word processing programs.

• Remote data gathering. Using data acquisition hardware, a
DDE-based software module collects data and simultaneously
saves it to disk, links it to a chart program that diagrams the in-
coming data, and also links it to a spreadsheet that computes
averages.

• Downloads from E-mail or communications services. Instead
of reading information on-line, a DDE-based telecommunica-
tions program saves messages to disk or places them into a word
processor document for later perusal.

In each case, automatic transfer of data between applications
frees users from mundane and repetitive cutting and pasting
and welds individual programs together to create metapro-
grams that are more than the sum of their parts.

On the Links

DDE supports both temporary and permanent information ex-
changes. Temporary exchanges are simple transactions. A pro-
gram requests information and receives it or sends information
and receives an acknowledgment. Permanent exchanges come
in two varieties: hot and warm. When sender and receiver com-
municate by way of a DDE "hot link," information flows only
when the sender has new data to transmit. In the case of a
"warm link," the sender tells the receiver that there's new
data, but doesn't send it until the receiver asks for it.

A program's user establishes temporary or permanent links
between applications. In a DDE spreadsheet like Excel, for ex-
ample, you do that by placing a formula into a worksheet cell.
This formula describes the target application and the nature
of the link. For example, to link an Excel spreadsheet to the
Quotes stock market reporting program, you place a formula
into a cell as follows:

= 'QUOTE' I 'NYSE' ! IBM

This formula contains the three essential pieces of DDE syntax:
application, topic, and item names.

In Microsoft Word, DDE links are fields. Along with time,
date, and comment fields, Word also supports a DDE field. To
link a Word document to an Excel spreadsheet, you specify the
DDE names. The edit box in screen 1 gives an example. Fol-
lowing the field code DDEAUTO there is the target applica-
tion's name (excel), the topic name (test.xls, a data file),
and the item name (r3c5, the cell that has the information).

Once established, this link will place whatever value resides
in that worksheet cell into the Word document and will change
it automatically if the worksheet value changes. The Word
document can either display the value or, as screen 2 illus-
trates, show the field specification that governs the value. As
you can see, it takes just a few steps to link programs together.
You can terminate a link just as easily.

Links between programs can refer to fields within files, or to
entire files. File-level links ensure that changes to a master file
propagate to any files linked to that master. These secondary
files need to be open to stay in sync with the original.

Users of programs that support DDE don't generally need to
worry about whether they're running under Windows or PM.
Most programs that support the two environments forge DDE
links the same way. Internally, as you'll see, Windows and PM
handle DDE a bit differently.

How DDE Works

The underlying mechanisms that make DDE possible depend
on the message-based architecture of Windows and PM. Under
these environments, when anything happens— a mouse-click,
key press, window-dragging operation, or menu selection— the
operating system broadcasts a message. These messages accu-
mulate in either a system message queue or an application mes-
sage queue. Within every Windows or PM application, a mes-
sage loop continually examines these messages, selects those
that it needs to handle, and ignores the rest.

Windows' cooperative style of multitasking relies on the
messaging system. Whenever any application retrieves a mes-
sage from the system message queue and acts on it, Windows
gives that application control of the CPU. Before it can check

374 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

FEATURE
HOT LINKS TO GO

A GRAPHICAL VIEW
OF A DDE CONVERSATION

Client application

DDESTRUCT

Server application

INITIATE

INITIATEACK

REQUEST

Data

In a typical DDE conversation, the client initiates the
conversation, and the server acknowledges. The client then
requests data, which the server puts in shared memory.

the message queue again, all other running programs get a
crack at the queue and a chance to gain control. Although PM
structures the retrieval and processing of messages in a similar
way, OS/2 handles multitasking differently. A scheduler in
the operating-system kernel parcels out CPU time to program
threads.

The stream of messages flowing within Windows and PM
enables DDE. It is simply a message protocol: the definition of
a series of messages that Windows and PM programs can re-
spond to and act on.

The Client-Server Model and Conversations

The client-server model and the conversation are the two key
conceptual ingredients of DDE. With the client-server model, a
DDE server provides data, and a DDE client consumes it. This
apparently simple model can get complicated, however, be-
cause a client can have multiple servers, and a single program
can function as both a client and a server. These complex sce-
narios are particularly likely under multitasking systems. For
example, one application can receive data from a second as a
client and then act as a server to pass information along to a
third. Applications can simultaneously play the role of both cli-
ent and server (in two separate conversations) to simulate a two-
way peer-to-peer interaction.

The interactions between a DDE client and server are called
conversations. Conversations between programs work like tele-
phone conversations between people. One program initiates a
conversation, the other acknowledges that a conversation has
begun (like soneone answering a phone), information flows,
and, finally, one program terminates the conversation.

Conversations from a client program not only target a server
application but also specify a topic and an item. A topic is typi-
cally a filename, and an item is any specific data object— usu-
ally specified by a field, cell, or range— within that file. Each
data object requires a separate request.

The behind-the-scenes logic of a DDE conversation goes like
this (see the figure): The client starts a conversation by sending

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NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 375

FEATURE
HOT LINKS TO GO

DDE MESSAGES

The DDE message sets for Windows and Presentation
Manager. The two sets share nine messages. PM adds a
tenth: WM_DDE_INITIATEACK.

DDE MessagePurpose

WM_DDE_INITIATE

WM_DDE_INITIATEACK

WM_DDE_TERMINATE

WM_DDE^CK

WM_DDE_REQUEST

WM_DDE_DATA

WM_DDE_ADVISE

WM_DDE_UNADVISE

WM_DDE_POKE

WM_DDE_EXECUTE

Request the start of a DDE
conversation.

Acknowledge the start of a DDE
conversation (PM only).
Halt a conversation.
Acknowledge a DDE message.
Ask server to provide data.
Notify client that data is available.
Ask server to update data whenever
it changes.

Tell server that a data itenn should

no longer be updated.

Ask server to accept unsolicited

data.

Sends a command string to server.

Listing 1: API calls to initiate a DDE conversation
under Windows and PM.

Windows

SendMessage(
(HWND) -1,
WM_DDE_ INITIATE,
hMyWnd,

MAKELONG(aApp, aTopio)

);

Presentation Manager

UinD(ieInitiate(htfnd, "AppName", "TopicName") ;

out a DDE-initiation message. The target server application (or
any interested application if the client names no specific target)
responds with an initiation-acknowledged message. The client
program next sends a message containing a topic and an item
name, and it requests either a permanent or temporary infor-
mation exchange. The server then responds by sending the re-
quested information. A client application can also send unre-
quested information to a server and can instruct the server
application to execute one of its internal commands. For exam-
ple, under Windows 3.0, a program's installation module can
tell the Program Manager to create a group and add an item to
it. Either the client or the server can terminate the conversation.

DDE Nuts and Bolts

DDE relies on a series of nine messages (10 under PM — see the
table) and several important data structures. These data struc-
tures provide a memory format for the information that flows
during a conversation. The DDEINIT and DDESTRUCT PM
data structures appear in listing 2. Windows uses global data
structures that programs create with calls to the GlobalAlloc
function. Parameters accompanying each DDE message point
to these structures. Windows and PM store the DDE informa-
tion itself (e.g. , spreadsheet values and text) in memory that the
client and server share. The client application program must
allocate memory for all DDE data structures when it initiates a
DDE conversation.

A DDE conversation begins when a client broadcasts a
WM_DDE_INITIATE message. Under Windows, you use the
generic application programming interface function Send-
Message; under PM, there's a special WinDdelnitlate call
(see listing 1). Similarly, Windows uses SendMessage and
PostMessage API calls for sending subsequent DDE messages,
while PM uses a special call, WlnDdePostMsg.

Once a DDE conversation has begun, a client application
conducts an exchange by performing the following actions:

• Allocate memory for the DDE memory object. This action
creates the shared memory area that both applications will use.

• Create a format for the information to be exchanged. Win-
dows and PM provide a predefined format (clipboard format)
for exchanging string data. A program must create its own for-
mat for exchanging other data, like graphics.

• Select an information-exchange type. The client program
specifies whether an exchange will be one-time-only, a hot
link, or a warm link.

• Send a DDE message.

• Deallocate DDE shared memory. This step cleans up memory
after the completion of a DDE.

Each DDE conversation requires a separate window on both
ends. It might be a main application window, a window associ-
ated with a specific document, or a hidden window that never
appears on the screen.

Differences Between Windows and PM DDE

Although their DDE message sets are nearly identical, Win-
dows and PM use slightly different schemes for passing infor-
mation among applications. This difference results from a key
distinction between the memory-addressing design of their re-
spective underlying operating systems.

Windows DDE uses 16-bit handles to global memory objects
to locate exchangeable data. PM limits access to global memory
and instead uses a 32-bit memory selector to pass data between
OS/2 processes.

There are two parameters available as arguments for any

Listing 2: Presentation Manager DDEINIT and
DDESTRUCT data structures. The DDEINIT structure
holds the application and topic names (Windows stores
these in atoms). DDESTRUCT holds the name of the
item, its format, and the item 's data.

typedef struot_DDESTRUCT {

ULONG obdata;

USHORT fsStatus;

USHORT us Format;

USHORT offszItemName;

USHORT offabData;
} DDESTRUCT;

typedef struct_DDEINIT {

USHORT Ob;

PSZ pszAppName;

PSZ pszTopic ;

} DDEINIT;

376 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

FEATURE
HOT LINKS TO GO

given DDE message. The first designates the handle of the tar-
get window. A second 32-bit parameter contains all other
conversation particulars, including memory selectors. The de-
signers of PM foresaw that this parameter could not forever ac-
commodate the ever-increasing size of processor address
spaces and LAN communications needs, along with strings to
identify DDE objects. So, under PM, the second parameter of
DDE messages became a pointer to one of two DDE data struc-
tures. These structures contain all the necessary DDE conver-
sation parameters, as well as the actual data being exchanged.
This scheme ensures that PM can accommodate future system
software changes and new hardware architectures without al-
tering the DDE message format.

Windows uses atoms (i.e., integers that identify character
strings) to refer to the information being passed between a cli-
ent and a server, and global memory handles to refer to the data
structures that actually contain the data. These atoms and han-
dles form the contents of the second parameter sent with every
DDE message (the first being the target window handles). PM
uses a separate DDE data structure (pointed to by the second
DDE message parameter) in which to package conversation pa-
rameters and data. This makes using atoms unnecessary.

Because of the restrictions that OS/2 places on a process
when it attempts to access another process, PM uses a special
set of DDE API calls that grant this access automatically. These
special calls include WinDdelnitlate, WinDdeRespond, and
WinDdePostMsg.

DDE and the Integrated Desktop

Multitasking and DDE will increasingly display a symbiosis
within the next generation of PC applications. Multitasking
provides for the functional integration of applications, and
DDE furnishes the concordance of information. Once they dis-
cover that they can connect disparate applications seamlessly,
users will stop thinking about tools (applications) and start fo-
cusing on specific documents or tasks. Windows 3.0 and PM
both provide a way to group tasks according to the needs of any
user. The ability to group all the documents needed to produce
a firm's annual report, for example, helps the person working
on the report focus on the pieces of the project rather than on
the tools used to complete it.

Grouped tasks lead to the organization of computer desktops
into workspaces — a workspace for the annual report, a work-
space for the new building proposal, and so on. Within each
workspace, many applications and documents will be open;
some of these will share information via DDE links.

DDE extends an application by enabling it to use information
from another program that it otherwise could not generate it-
self. For example, when you use DDE to embed a chart from a
program like Microsoft PowerPoint into a word processing
document, you add to the word processing program a capability
that it otherwise would not have.

Because DDE preserves the format of exchanged informa-
tion, it eliminates such problems as having to alter the font or
point size of data linked from an Excel spreadsheet to a Word
document: DDE can send font and size information with the
data. This preservation of format further enforces the idea that
pieces of information are objects that users can mix and match.

With all these benefits and possibilities, you can bet that
DDE is a term you will be hearing about much more frequently
in the not-too-distant future. ■

Michael Vose is the author of the book Windows 3 .0: A Defini-
tive Guide for DOS Users (Addison- Wesley, 1990). He can be
reached on BIX do "editors. "

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NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 377

■ New Topic: Graphics

You may already be participating in
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Here the discussion has expanded
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COMMUNITY CALENDAR
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Some favorite exchanges you'll
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Circle 73 on Reader Service Card

FEATURE
ALTERNATIVE OPERATING SYSTEMS

Pick*
os or dbms?

An ancient breeze still blows
through the database world

Ben Smith

Pick: It's an operating system; it's a data-
base system. It's both. Although Pick is
most often found as a stand-alone operating
system, you may see it implemented as a
database engine working under other multi-
user operating systems, such as Unix. Data-
bases have their own special needs for optimal data storage and
retrieval. Pick meets those needs and provides the data organi-
zation that makes for efficient database operations.

Prehistoric Synergism

Many computers are used for the single purpose of database
operations. In this case. Pick is all you need. It includes all the
layers and activities of an operating system: everything from
virtual memory management, terminal control, and print
spooling and control up through multiuser task, account, and
file management, as well as a command interpreter and script-
ing language. Pick also includes all the tools for database oper-
ations: programs to structure the data, a language for data en-
try and data manipulation, and a report formatter.

Pick is more than a collection of utilities and libraries; it is a
completely integrated operating system/database engine —
greater than the sum of its parts. There is nothing new about
this idea, but that may be because Pick is far from new. Richard
A. Pick and his colleagues at TRW started development on the
IBM System/360 in 1965. That makes Pick older than CP/M
(1977) and even Unix (1970).

Pick's organization of data helped it survive all those years
and through all the changes in the computer industry. The en-
tire system is consistently built using the same data structure: a
tree of data dictionaries and data files, usually paired together.
Even the Pick commands are held in this structure. As a result,
nearly everything in Pick is a database and can be manipulated
any way you like.

From the average user's point of view, the operating system
and database operations (e.g., input, search, and report) are
simple and fast. But the developer must come to Pick with as

few preconceptions as possible. Developing Pick applications is
unlike working in any modern development environment.

At first glance. Pick appears to be hopelessly atavistic. The
environment consists of a primitive, uppercase-only command
interpreter, a special-purpose line editor, and a steroid-mutat-
ed BASIC. If you are used to fancy window- and menu-based
data management tools. Pick will seem rough and unfriendly.
But under this crude surface, there are many fine ideas, imple-
mented in a refined (though Spartan) manner.

Operating-System Sorts of Things

Pick's multitasking (and multiuser) capabilities are bare bones.
The operating system maintains separate user log-in accounts,
each with its own master dictionary , a file that holds pointers to
all of the account's files and commands.

Accounts are linked more closely with the data they hold than
with the people who use them. Everyone using an inventory-
control database, for example, would likely share an account.
The system has commands for managing these accounts, han-
dling system backups and restores, and monitoring system use.
There are utilities for transferring files to and from MS-DOS
partitions that might coexist with the Pick partitions on a PC.

Installation of external terminals and printers is easy on a
Pick system. There is one file describing terminal capabilities,
another to configure serial ports, and another that describes the
parallel printer ports.

A user can have more than one task running at a time (in

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NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 381

FEATURE
ALTERNATIVE OPERATING SYSTEMS

A frame is the basic Pick
unit of memory; different
implementations of Pick use
different frame sizes. On the
PC, frames for executables
and workspace are 2048
bytes, while frames for files
(shown here) are 512 bytes.
Frames are linked together
through a pair of pointers at
the front of each block.

TYPICAL 512-BYTE FRAME IN A MULTIFRAME FILE

Unused
byte

Unused
byte

Count

of
frames
after

V

Forward link

V

Backward link

Count

of
frames
before

500 bytes of data

12-byte frame header

addition to print spooling). Sucli tasks are called phantom pro-
cesses. They handle administrative duties while users are busy
with applications. But there isn't any path to client/server con-
nections on a single machine; there are no interprocess commu-
nications links other than semaphores. However, different Pick
machines can communicate with each other; even MS-DOS can
communicate with Pick.

Virtual Memory

The Pick operating system addresses both memory and disk as a
single mass. This mass is divided into a file area at the high
addresses, and executable and work areas at the low addresses.

A. frame is the basic Pick unit of memory. Each frame is ref-
erenced by a unique frame identifier. Different implementa-
tions of Pick use different frame sizes.

On the PC, there are two sizes of frames. Frames for the
executables and workspace are 2048 bytes in size and are not
linked. Frames for files take 512 bytes and often form doubly
linked lists using 12 bytes (of the 5 12) of data to create the con-
nections (see the figure). Alternatively, file space can be allo-
cated in blocks of contiguous frames, in which case the block
does not require the 12 bytes per frame for memory manage-
ment; all 512 bytes is available in each contiguous frame.

The virtual memory manager, which tracks the location of
data, works directly with the hard disk and RAM. This invisi-

ble layer of device control is responsible for Pick's efficiency on
otherwise inefficient or obsolete computers.

The Database

The data files and associated dictionaries allow you to build a
complex interrelationship between data files, since a data item
in one file can be a pointer to data in another file. This kind of
structure is more akin to a hierarchical data structure than the
relational structure that is common on microcomputer data-
bases. Most relational database systems have fixed-length data
fields, but Pick data fields are held in a variable-length format.
As you will see, this is a very important feature.

Both of the data pair (dictionary and data) files have the same
structure. The dictionary contains the definitions of fields {at-
tributes, in Pick terminology) in the data file, and pointers to
the fields that use the defined structure. Not only can each attri-
bute within a record (or item) contain a value, but each value
can be composed of subvalues. Each item within a file must
have a unique (to the file) item-ID with which Pick manages its
data operations. The item-ID may actually be data itself— for
example, a part number.

With this structure, an attribute value (or subvalue) may be
the item-ID of another file, or even of the same file. This last
capability solves the vexing database problem of how to orga-
nize data so that items can be assemblies of peer items. For

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382 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

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FEATURE
ALTERNATIVE OPERATING SYSTEMS

example, a parts-numbering scheme usually has unique num-
bers for both assemblies and the items included in the assem-
blies. Some of the assemblies may also contain subassemblies.
Since the items can vary in length, each item can have a differ-
ent substructure. Some items may list other items or subas-
semblies, and some items may just be elements in themselves.

Other Strengths and Weaknesses

Since Pick is a multiuser database/operating system, it neces-
sarily includes a form of record locking to prevent collisions of
data operations on the same sets of data. There is also a very
limited form of process locking. As more than one user can run
the same program at the same time, the PROC scripting lan-
guage contains a semaphore for control between concurrent
users. But the semaphores are local to each PROC script and so
do not offer any way for different programs to communicate.

The way data is written and read is a weakness. Pick search-
es data using the unique item-IDs of a file, but the search is
sequential since there is no index. On the plus side, the over-
head and restrictions imposed by maintaining an index don't
exist. You can create any kind of index with a data file; the
recursive structure of a data tree is already there.

A strength comes from the variable-length data items in a
file: A file can actually be a single piece of text, a script, or a
Pick BASIC program. Like dictionary files, these file forms
don't have a structure defined elsewhere.

New Era

Pick has been around a long time. Respect, as well as many
applications, has accrued over the years. Word processors,
spreadsheets, and other typical business fare are available.
Most important, there are thousands of proven vertical applica-
tions that run on hundreds of different species of computers.

Recent months have marked the beginning of a new era for
Pick with the introduction of Advanced Pick and Pick running
under Unix. Advanced Pick is backward-compatible with the
original, but this crispy version includes many features that
will attract modern applications developers: a screen editor,
secondary indexing and B-trees, transaction logging (neces-
sary for good computer-based accounting systems), and new
utilities for developing screens and tuning an organization of
data without resorting to Pick BASIC.

Pick under Unix fulfills needs in both computing realms:
Unix gains an efficient database engine; Pick gains the connec-
tivity and utility of Unix. Because the Unix file system was not
designed with database operations in mind, you need a separate
database file system for Pick. Turbo Informix, another popular
Unix database manager, uses a similar method to improve its
performance. But the integration of Pick and Unix goes beyond
coexistence; Pick can call Unix functions, and Unix can call
Pick functions. Data flows freely between the two.

Pick's strength is not as an operating system (it is outdated
technology), but in its flexibility and efficiency in handling
data. For this reason. Pick not only will survive, but will flour-
ish as a database engine implemented under other, more capa-
ble operating systems. ■

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Many thanks to Tim Thomas of Mini Business Systems, Inc.
(Southbury, CT), for being a source of Pick technical informa-
tion and enthusiasm.

Ben Smith is a technical editor for BYTE and the author of the
book Unix Step-by-Step (Howard Sams, 1990). He can be
reached on BIX as "bensmith. "

384 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

FEATURE
MODULA'S CHILDREN, PART 1

MODULA-3

A practical and predictable OOP language
for team projects

Sam Harbison

f you are a Pascal or Modula-2 programmer,

I you may have found yourself choking in the
dust behind the stampede to C + + . Choke no
longer. Modula-3 has arrived.
Modula-3 is not an extension to Modula-2,
but a new language in the spirit of Pascal and Modula-2. It com-
bines the best features of a modular, strongly typed language
with support for object-oriented programming (OOP), excep-
tions, and concurrency. As a result, Modula-3 is an effective
tool for building large, maintainable, robust systems.

Roots

Modula-3 was developed by researchers at Digital Equipment's
Systems Research Center and the Olivetti Research Center. It
borrows from two evolutionary lines of programming lan-
guages: an academic line, represented by Niklaus Wirth's Pas-
cal, Modula-2, and Oberon languages; and an industrial re-
search line, represented by the Mesa, Cedar, and Euclid
languages from Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).
Its immediate precursor is an extended version of Modula-2
called Modula-2 -I- , which was developed at SRC in the early
1980s and used there for the development of all its research
systems.

In 1986, an effort to clean up Modula-2 -I- became a design
for a new language, christened Modula-3 with Niklaus Wirth's
blessing. The language and two working implementations by
SRC and Olivetti were completed in 1989 (see figure 1). The
SRC implementation is available; I'll tell you how to get it later.

Modula-3 is a systems programming language based on two
general principles: simplicity and safety. Programming can be
a difficult, complicated, and risky activity, made even worse
by programming languages that are themselves difficult, com-
plicated, and risky.

Rather than spending their time inventing clever solutions for
textbook programming problems, Modula-3's designers se-
lected features proven through experience in other languages,
especially features that support good program structure (mod-

ules, objects, threads) and those that support robustness (gar-
bage collection, isolation of unsafe code, and exceptions). They
simplified and unified the underlying language concepts, dis-
carding features that did not pull their own weight.

Basics

To get a feel for Modula-3, start with Modula-2, Ada, or one of
the modern Pascal dialects (Turbo Pascal or Apple's Object
Pascal). The general syntax of statements, expressions, and
declarations is similar to that found in the other languages. The
customary basic data types are integers, Booleans, reals, char-
acters, sets, enumerations, arrays, records, and pointers.

There are also all the arithmetic, logical, and set operations
and the usual set of basic statements: conditional (IF and CASE),
loops (WHILE, FOR, REPEAT), blocks, and so on. Modula-3 in-
cludes type, constant, procedure, variable, and exception dec-
larations. Like Modula-2 and C, Modula-3 provides procedure
types, and its variable names are case-sensitive.

Although it resembles the other languages, Modula-3 has a
number of features that you can use to make programs more
readable and maintainable.

Readability

Listing 1 and figure 2 show a simple insertion sort procedure in
Modula-3 . Line 1 has the declaration of an open array param-
eter, V; within the procedure, the bounds of the array will be
from 0 to LAST(V) . (The expression FIRST (V) used in lines 3
and 8 will always be 0, but its use makes the program a bit more
readable.) The index variable 1 in line 3 is automatically de-
clared local to the loop body; it cannot be modified except by
the FOR loop control; and it takes its type from the initial and
final values.

Lines 4-13 introduce a nested block with two new variables.
Temp and j . Both variables are initialized where they are de-
clared, and their types are taken from the initialization expres-
sions (INTEGER, in both cases).

Lines 8-11 are a WHILE loop containing two statements.

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 385

FEATURE
MODULA'S CHILDREN, PART 1

Listing 1: A simple example: InsertSort in Modula-3
sorts V [ 0 ] . . V [ LAST ( V ) ] into ascending order. (Line
numbers are not part of the code but are included here
for reference.)

1 PROCEDURE InsertSort (VAR V: ARRAY OF INTEGER) =

2 BEGIN

3 FOR i := FIRST(V)+1 TO LAST(V) DO
i, VAR

5 Temp := V[l];

6 j :=i-l;

7 BEGIN

8 WHILE J >= FIRST(V) AND V[j] > Temp DO

9 VU+1] := V[j];

10 DEC(J);

11 END;

12 V[J+1] := Temp;

13 END
li, END;

15 END InsertSort;

Listing 2: InsertSort demonstrates more features
of data-type declarations.

A_type = ARRAY [1..10] OF INTEGER;

VAR

A := A_type{l,9,3,5,'i,..};
BEGIN

InsertSort ( V := A );
END

Modula-3 permits multiple statements wherever a single state-
ment is allowed, so there is no need to clutter your program
with extra BEGIN-END brackets. The DEC (decrement) statement
in line 10 is equivalent to j :=j-l. Modula-3 also has an INC
statement. Both can take an optional second argument to spec-
ify how much to increment or decrement the first argument.

More features can be seen in the code of listing 2, which calls
InsertSort. The declaration of the fixed array A uses an array
constructor to create an initialized array. The indicates
that the last value in the list (4) is used to fill out the remaining
elements of the array. The call on InsertSort demonstrates
the use of the optional parameter names at the site of the call.

Modules

The backbone of Modula-3 programming is the module. Mod-
ules come in two pieces: the interface part, which contains the
public types, objects, and procedures provided by the module;
and the implementation part, which contains private declara-
tions and the bodies of the public procedures. To use the public
facilities of a module in another module, you must import the
compiled interface of the referenced module. You don't actu-
ally need the implementation part to compile your module, but
you will need something (at least some "stub" code) in the im-
plementation to have a program that runs.

The module concept is a very powerful tool supporting in-
formation hiding, abstraction, and top-down programming.
Listing 3 shows a complete example of module Unique that pro-
vides a Next procedure, which returns successive integers in
the sequence 1, 2, 3. A Reset procedure is provided to restart
the sequence at a specified point.

The interface (lines 1-5 of listing 3) and implementation

MODULA-3 HISTORY

1970

1979

1987

Niklaus Wirth

Pascal

Modula-2

Oberon

Object Pascal

1984

DEC SRC

Modula-2-i-

Moduia-3

1984

Xerox PARC

Mesa

Cedar

Euclid

1977

1982

1980

1988, 1989

Figure 1: Modula-3 is a descendant of the work of Niklaus Wirth (the designer of Pascal and Modula-2) and of Cedar
from Xerox PARC.

386 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

FEATURE
MODULA'S CHILDREN, PART 1

(lines 6 -28) of the module would normally be contained in sep-
arate files. The interface declares the two public procedures
and a constant integer; this is the only information a user of the
module needs to know.

The implementation part of Unique imports two standard li-
brary interfaces, Wr and Stdio, which implement simple text
streams. There are actually two ways to import an interface.
For one, if you specify only the interface name (as on line 7),
all names from that module must be qualified by the interface
name (e.g., Wr.PutText on line 15). However, if you list indi-
vidual names (as on line 8), you can use them without qualifi-
cation (e.g., the stderr on line 15). In either case, the origins
of the imported names are explicit in the program, making it
easy for any reader to locate the proper interface. It is possible
to import interfaces into other interfaces, but that wasn't neces-
sary in this example; the I/O is performed only in the private
part of the module.

In line 9, a static integer variable, Next_Value, is declared at
the top level of the module and is initialized in the module's
body (lines 26-28). (Stylistically, it is better to initialize Next_
Value where it is declared, but I wanted to show the module
body.) The Modula-3 compilation system ensures that each
module's initialization code is executed in the proper order,
that is, before the module's facilities are used by any other
module. One module must be designated as the main module;
that module's initialization code becomes the program entry
point, executed after all other modules have been initialized.

Line 22 shows the procedure declaration for Reset with a
default parameter value. As a result of this kind of declaration,
if Reset is called without parameters, the Next parameter
takes on the value Flrst_Value, or 1.

Listing 3: Interface and implementation parts to a
module.

1 INTERFACE Unique;

2 CONST Firsi.Value = 1;

3 PROCEDURE Next() : INTEGER;

4 PROCEDURE Reset ( Next := First_Value) ;

5 END Unique.

6 MODULE Unique;

7 IMPORT Wr;

8 FROM Stdio IMPORT stderr;

9 VAR Next_Value : INTEGER;

10 PROCEDURE Next{) : INTEGER =

11 VAR

12 Thisjalue := Next_Value;

13 BEGIN

14 IF Next_Value = LAST( INTEGER) THEN

15 Wr.PutText(stderr,"Next() is wrapping aroundO);

16 Next_Value := FIRST( INTEGER) ; (« e.g., -2in31 »)

17 ELSE

18 INC(Next_Value);

19 END;

20 RETURN This_Value;

21 END Next;

22 PROCEDURE Reset{ Next

23 BEGIN

24 Next_Value := Next;

25 END Reset;

26 BEGIN

27 Next_Value := 1;

28 END Unique.

= First_Value ) =

Exceptions

An exception is an event that suspends normal program execu-
tion and causes control to be transferred to a handler for that
exception. After the exception is handled, execution resumes at
some well-defined location in the program, but not necessarily

ALTERNATE TREATMENT OF SAMPLE PROGRAMS WITH COMMENTARY

Parameter passed
by reference

Loop variables

automatically

declared

Local block
with variable
declarations

procedure InsertSort (jvar V|^)^rray of INTEGER_^
begin

fori i ) := FIRST (V) -Hi to ^AST (V)}_do

'^s.x ■ Last index in V

Temp /\= V [ i ];
j V:= i-1;
begin

Open array parameter

Expressions provide
initial values and types

while j >= FIRST (V) and V[j] > Temp do
V[ j + 1] := V[ j] ;

CD gC (j)7 ^ ^ _
end; Same as j: = j-1

Multiple statements
allowed in loops and
conditional statements

V[j+1] :=
I — end
end

end InsertSort;

Temp;

Figure 2: Although Modula-3 looks very much like Pascal and Modula-2, declarations can incorporate initial values,
and data typing can be implicit.

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 387

FEATURE
MODULA'S CHILDREN, PART 1

where the exception was first raised.

Exception-handling mechanisms are important for robust
programs. Without them, you must manually check status
values returned by all procedure calls or depend on awkward
library facilities. Modula-3's exception mechanism is similar
to the one used in Ada; it has low overhead and is easy to use.
Listing 4 shows an interface, Copy_Stuff, that uses excep-
tions. A portion of the implementation of Copy_Stuf f is also
shown, along with a main module that uses it.

The exception declarations appear in lines 2 and 3; the Error
exception takes a parameter of type TEXT (a Modula-3 dynamic
string). Notice that GetText and PutText explicitly list the ex-
ceptions they may raise (lines 4 and 5); this optional declaration
improves readability and maintainability. (The compiler will
check that no unlisted exceptions are propagated out of the pro-
cedures at run time.)

The central code in Main is simply an infinite loop (lines
13-16), which is terminated when an exception is propagated
out of either GetText or PutText. The surrounding TRY-
EXCEPT statement (lines 12-20) holds the two exception han-
dlers (lines 18 and 19), which terminate the program with or
without an error. The excerpt from the implementation of Get-
Text (lines 24-32) shows how the exceptions might be raised.

Objects

OOP is becoming an increasingly popular tool for the program-
mer. Its advantages include increased maintainability and ex-
tensibility of code. There are three critical elements needed in
languages that support OOP:

• The ability to define classes (types) of objects that include
their own data and methods (procedures).

• The ability for a class to inherit data and methods from
another class (its ancestor), and to change or extend them.

• The ability to create objects (instances of classes) and
access data and methods through those objects.

Modula-3 provides all these elements of OOP. In fact, by
providing both modules and objects, Modula-3 gives the pro-
grammer much more flexibility than languages that provide
only one (e.g. , Modula-2 and Ada) or the other {e.g., C ++).

Listing 5 is an example of a module that provides the abstrac-
tion of a geometric point, that is, a location in a two-dimension-
al plane. In the example, particular attention is paid to hiding as
much information as possible from the user of the class.

Following a common Modula-3 convention, I have named
the interface Point and the enclosed class simply T. Users of
the class will use the interface name as a qualifier and call the
class Point. T. Line 3 identifies T as an opaque type: the decla-
ration T< :Public_T means that T is an unspecified descendant
(subtype) of class (type) Publio_T, which is declared in line 4
as an object type with two methods, PosX and PosY.

The interface also declares a New procedure to create in-
stances of the class. New is a normal procedure, not a method.
Its declaration reflects a Modula-3 philosophy that not all pro-
cedures should be forced into methods if they more naturally
stand alone. The text <*INLINE*> is a Modula-3 "pragma" re-
questing that the Modula-3 compiler expand all calls to New in-
line.

The implementation of Point is shown in lines 11-27. The
first declaration reveals the concrete definition of the type T,
introducing its two data fields, X and Y, and establishing the
actual method procedures for the class, PosXProc and PosY-
Proc.

Notice that the first parameter to these procedures is p: T.
This "self parameter was implicit in the method declarations
on lines 6 and 7.

The keyword BRANDED on line 13 ensures that the type is
unique. It is required by the Modula-3 type system for reasons I
won't go into here.

The Point. New procedure on lines 19-22 is worthy of dis-
cussion. It calls the built-in Modula-3 function NEW to dynami-
cally allocate an object, and it can set the values of any data
field or method; that is, Modula-3 objects from the same class

Listing 4: An example of Modula-3 exceptions.

1 INTERFACE Copy_Stuff;

2 EXCEPTION Error (TEXT );

3 EXCEPTION EOF;

4 PROCEDURE GetTextO : TEXT RAISES [Error, EOF};

5 PROCEDURE PutText(T: TEXT) RAISES {Error};

6 END Copy_Stuff.

7 MODULE Main;

8 FROM Copy_Stuff IMPORT GetText, PutText, Error, EOF;

9 FROM OSIO IMPORT Exit, Success, Failure;

10 VAR Buffer : TEXT;

11 BEGIN

12 TRY

13 LOOP

U Buffer := GetTextO;

15 PutText(Buf fer) ;

16 END;

17 EXCEPT

18 EOF => ExitCSuecess); |

19 Error => Exit ( Failure ) ;

20 END;

21 END Main.

22 MODULE Copy_Stuff;

23 IMPORT OSIO;

24 PROCEDURE GetTextO : TEXT RAISES {Error, EOF) =

25 BEGIN

26 status := OSIO.LoadBuf fer( ) ;

27 IF Status = OSIO.Error THEN

28 RAISE ErrorC'OS error reading file");

29 ELSIF Status = OSIO.EOF THEN

30 RAISE EOF

31 END;

32 END GetText;

33 END Copy_Stuff.

Listing 5: Objects and opaque types in Modula-3.

1 INTERFACE Point;

2 TYPE

3 T < : PubHc_T;

i Public_T = OBJECT

5 METHODS

6 PosX( ) : REAL; (» X position »)

7 PosY( ) : REAL; (» Y position »)

8 END;

9 <»INLINE»> PROCEDURE New(x, y: REAL) : T;

10 END Point.

11 MODULE Point;

12 REVEAL

13 T = Public_T BRANDED OBJECT
H X, Y ; REAL;

15 METHODS

16 PosX := PosXProc;

17 PosY := PosYProo;

18 END;

19 PROCEDURE Ne¥(x, y: REAL) : T =

20 BEGIN

21 RETURN NEW(T, X:=x, Y:=y);

22 END New;

23 PROCEDURE PosXProc ( p: T) : REAL =
2A BEGIN RETURN p.X; END PosXProc;

25 PROCEDURE PosYProc( p: T) : REAL =

26 BEGIN RETURN p.Y; END PosYProc;

27 BEGIN

28 END Point.

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FEATURE
MODULA'S CHILDREN, PART 1

can have different methods installed when they are created.
This is a powerful feature not found in many object-oriented
languages. In this example, only the data fields are set by NEW;
the default methods provided on lines 16 and 17 are retained.

As implied in the example, all Modula-3 objects are dynami-
cally allocated. In Modula-3, there are no constructors or de-
structors to create and destroy objects automatically. Program-
mers must write explicit initialization routines or allow the user
to invoke NEW directly. Destructors in other languages are most
often used to deallocate dynamic storage. But since Modula-3
has automatic garbage collection, destructors are not usually
needed.

Threads and Programming for Concurrency

Concurrent programming— the management of multiple, si-
multaneous control flows— is the third major structuring facil-
ity in Modula-3 (after modules and objects). Concurrency is
useful in many programming situations: when you want to take
advantage of multiprocessing; when you want to provide back-
ground processing during slow user interactions; and when you
are handling naturally asynchronous or independent tasks, like
handling separate windows in a graphical user interface.

Few other languages provide direct support for concurrency:
Modula-2 provides a weak coroutine-based facility, and Ada a
complex rendezvous mechanism. In contrast, Modula-3 adopts
the thread model in which concurrent threads of control are
managed within the same program and address space, each
with its own local call stack but with shared access to all global
data. This is the model increasingly supported by new operat-
ing systems. Threads are typically much more efficient than
processes, which are identified with a separate address space.

A detailed example of programming with threads is outside
the scope of this article. Suffice it to say that Modula-3 has a
standard library interface that provides facilities to fork and
join threads, to use mutual-exclusion semaphores and condition
variables, and to alert (interrupt) running threads.

Safety

Safety is a principal goal of Modula-3. Most of the language is
safe in the sense that the compiler guarantees that run-time in-
variants (e.g., variable ranges, array indexes, and the validity
of pointers) are not violated. In contrast to this. Appendix F in
the ANSI C standard lists 97 different circumstances in which
the behavior of a C program is undefined at either compile time
or run time. Modula-3 guarantees safety through a combina-
tion of compile-time analysis and run-time checking. This can
vastly reduce the time it takes to debug a large application.

Systems programming can be unsafe by its very nature. Stor-
age allocators and garbage collectors typically must have ac-
cess to the unsafe features of a language. In Modula-3 these
features include the ability to perform arbitrary type coercions,
to perform arithmetic on pointers, and to call the DISPOSE pro-
cedure to explicitly free dynamic memory allocated with NEW.

To use the unsafe language features, you must insert the
modifier UNSAFE in your interface or module. Otherwise, the
compiler will restrict you to the safe language subset. A good
way to include unsafe elements into Modula-3 programs is to
create a module with a safe interface for others to use, and then
to implement that interface with an unsafe module. You must be
the guarantor that using the interface is safe; Modula-3 cannot
completely check it.

Garbage Collection

Some of the most insidious run-time errors are caused by mis-
using pointers, especially by using pointers after the storage

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FEATURE
MODULA'S CHILDREN, R\RT 1

they point to has been deallocated. Modula-3 removes this
problem once and for all by providing automatic garbage col-
lection in the run-time environment. Since the programmer
using the safe language cannot write a DISPOSE operation, the
compiler can guarantee that no storage will be freed if there are
outstanding references to it. Dangling references are a thing of
the past, and programming becomes much simpler when you do
not have to worry about storage management.

There is a side benefit to garbage collection. Since type in-
formation must be kept for pointer types, using the REFANY type
(a pointer to anything) is safe, and the TYPECASE statement can
be used to determine the type of a pointer at run time.

Points of Contention

There are a few design choices in Modula-3 that some program-
mers will question. In all cases, the choices were made deliber-
ately, and usually because either the alternative had little
(proven) utility, it was too complex in all its ramifications, or it
was unsafe.

Modula-3 is biased toward dynamic allocation. Introducing
garbage collection was a calculated technological bet. Do the
value of program safety and the efficiency of modern collection
algorithms together make garbage collection acceptable in a
systems programming language? I think so, but for the doubt-
ers, Modula-3 doesn't completely depend on garbage collec-
tion: The modifier UNTRACED can be applied to any pointer or
object type to keep it from the collector (even in the safe lan-
guage subset).

Even though Modula-3 's OOP model is flexible and is sim-
pler than that of many other languages, Modula-3 does not sup-
port multiple inheritance, constructors, or destructors, and all
methods are virtual (to use C-I--I- and Eiffel terminology).
This means that you must pay for a level of indirection in all
method calls, but nonvirtual methods can be written as ordi-
nary procedures if efficiency is important. Multiple inheri-
tance doesn't seem to be essential, and, besides, it introduces
additional complexity and problems whose solutions require
additional features.

On the other hand, Modula-3 's data-type system uses a
structural-equivalence model. In other words, two types are al-
ways treated as the same if their structure is the same. This
model is simpler to understand than the more common name-
equivalence model, and it more naturally addresses problems
in distributed systems, where separate programs may share
typed data.

Modula-3 makes a serious attempt to bring together the long-
term maintainability of Ada, the simplicity of Modula-2, and
the modern OOP facilities of C-I--I-. The result is a clean lan-
guage that provides programmers who want safety and main-
tainability with a language to carry them through the 1990s.

If you would like more information on the Modula-3 lan-
guage, you can write for Research Reports 52 and 53 from Dig-
ital Equipment Corp., Systems Research Center, 130 Lytton
Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94301. The SRC implementation of Mod-
ula-3 is also available on Internet and via UUCP (Unix-to-Unix
copy). The system consists of a Modula-3-to-C translator with
many tools and libraries. It is distributed in source form and has
been ported to a variety of Unix workstations. It is available on
BIX as modula.3; see page 5 for more information and down-
loading details. ■

Sam Harbison (Pittsburgh, PA) is the author ofC: A Reference
Manual and president of Pine Creek Software, a consuhingfirm
specializing in programming languages and environments. He
can be reached on BIX as " samharbison. "

392 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

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HANDS ON

UNDER THE HOOD ■ Roger Alford

THE Mouse
THAT Roared

The history, anatomy,
and physiology of the
desktop rodent

Mice! Suddenly they're every-
where—about a quarter of
all PCs users have them. PC
mice have grown steadily in
popularity since their 1982 introduction.
The increased availability of programs
that support mice will continue to accel-
erate this trend. In particular, the phe-
nomenal success of graphical user inter-
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Before long most PCs, like all Macin-
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next to their keyboard.

The Way it Was

Douglas Engelbart invented the mouse in
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At that time Engelbart was exploring var-
ious computer input device possibilities.
His first prototype mouse was made of
wood, with metal disks for rollers that
detected the mouse movement. After
using the mouse, Engelbart concluded
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Xerox further developed the mouse
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Much of Hawley 's basic design has been
carried into the modern PC mouse.

In 1982, Mouse Systems introduced
the first mouse for the IBM PC. With no
real software available with mouse sup-
port, initial sales of the three-button

mouse were primarily to computer users
who were curious about the creatures,
and those attracted to the novelty.

Around that time, Microsoft also
started seeing the mouse as a device with
a lot of potential in the PC marketplace
and, being a software company, the com-
pany had the wherewithal to encourage
mouse use by writing mouse support into
its software.

Microsoft introduced its own two-but-
ton PC mouse in mid- 1983. With the sub-
sequent introduction of such programs as
Microsoft Word, and later Windows and
Excel, Microsoft showed PC users that a
mouse can make working on computers
easier and more efficient (and more fun).

When the Macintosh appeared in
1984, sporting a mouse and a user-
friendly GUI, users everywhere became
even more aware of the benefits of the
mouse. Meanwhile, mouse-supporting
applications continued to trickle into the
PC marketplace.

Mouse vendors further encouraged
mouse use by supplying pop-up menus
that allowed their mice to work with
standard nonmouse applications. Mouse-
based PC paint programs also began to
appear, and it was common to buy a
mouse that included a bundled paint
program.

The use of mice on PCs continued to
grow. In mid- 1988 Microsoft recorded
its one-millionth mouse sale and ended
the 1990 fiscal year in June with nearly
two million mouse sales— about half of
all PC mice sold that year. Other major
mouse suppliers have also benefited from
the increased popularity of mice, includ-
ing Logitech, Mouse Systems, and IBM.
According to International Data Corp.
(Framingham, MA), 1989 mouse sales
in the U.S. totaled around 3.2 million
units, with worldwide sales for that year
of around 5.5 million units.

As Engelbart predicted, the mouse has
indeed withstood the test of time. There
are far more mice on PCs than any of the
alternative pointing devices (i.e., track-

balls, graphics tablets, light pens, and
touch-screens).

Mouse Anatomy

Mice come in two species: mechanical
and optical. Mechanical mice, in turn,
belong to two subspecies: electromech-
anical and optomechanical.

Figure 1 illustrates the operation of an
electromechanical mouse. A rubber-
coated metal ball protrudes from the bot-
tom of the mouse; as you move the
mouse, it turns. Two rollers touching the
ball record its movements along the x and
y axes. As the rollers rotate, encoders
make and break electrical contacts that
send electrical pulses the computer can
use to track the mouse.

Alternatively, some mechanical mice,
like the Manager Mouse from Numonics,
don't use a roller ball. Instead, two
rollers protrude from the bottom of the
mouse to sense the x and y directional
movements.

The optomechanical mouse illustrated
in figure 2 works differently. LEDs
shine through holes in the encoders onto
photodetectors. As the rollers rotate, the
encoders alternately make and break
light beams between the LEDs and the
photodetectors. Corresponding electri-
cal signals sent to the computer describe
the motions of the mouse.

Note that the optomechanical mouse
needs two LED/photodetector pairs in
order to determine the direction of rota-
tion. A single LED/photodetector pair
can only determipe rotational speed.

Figure 3 shows how an optical mouse
works. It requires a special reflective
mouse pad with a grid of black and blue
lines. The mouse has two LEDs that
shine onto the mouse pad, one red and
one infrared. The reflected light beams
reenter the mouse through lenses, and
then reflect onto photodetectors. The
blue lines absorb the red light, and the
black lines absorb the infrared light. As
the mouse moves, the pad alternately ab-
sorbs and reflects light. The photodetec-

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 395

HANDS ON
UNDER THE HOOD

ELECTOMECHANICAL MOUSE

Mechanical
Encoder

\

Electrical ^

contacts
for encoder

x,y Direction
pick-up rollers

Rubber-coated ball
protrudes from
bottom of the mouse

OPTOMECHANICAL MOUSE

Photodector ^ LED

no

Figure 1: Inan
electromechanical
mouse, a rubber
ball drives the
encoders, which
make and break
electrical
contacts.

Figure 2: As with
an electromechaniad
mouse, a rubber
ball inside an
optomechanical
mouse drives the
encoders. In this
case, however,
LEDs shine
through holes in
the encoders. The
optical encoding
scheme eliminates
wear on the
encoders.

Figure 3: Red and

infrared LEDs
shine from an
optical mouse onto
a special pad.
Reflected beams
pass through
lenses, then
reflect onto
photodetectors.

tors detect the "makes" and "breaks,"
which the mouse converts to signals that
it sends to the PC. As with all species of
mice, additional signals tell the com-
puter about push-button events.

Most PC mice have either two or three
push buttons (in contrast to the Mac's
single button). Mouse-based PC pro-
grams generally require just two but-
tons, but can often assign a function to a
third button. Mouse push buttons can
also work in combinations (e.g. , two but-
tons simultaneously) to specify other
functions. Some programs support the
double-click— two button presses in rapid
succession— to specify more functions.

What are the relative merits of optical
versus mechanical mice? Optical mouse
proponents claim greater reliability for
their favorite, thanks to its solid-state,
no-moving-parts design. The "opti-
cians" also point out that the optical
mouse is maintenance-free, unlike me-
chanical mice, which require periodic
cleaning of the roller ball to eliminate the
inevitable build-up of foreign substances.
They also claim the optical mouse is
more accurate. If an optical mouse moves
from one point to another on its mouse
pad, then back, the cursor on your screen
should be back exactly where it started.
In contrast, the mechanical nature of me-
chanical mice makes them more suscep-
tible to slight variations, including minor
ball skipping and alterations in the regis-
tration of the roller ball to the encoder
shafts. Move a mechanical mouse from
one point to another and back, and you'll
typically find the cursor slightly off its
starting point.

The mechanical-mouse proponents ar-
gue that modern mechanical mice have
shown no reliability penalty, and that the
roller ball rarely needs cleaning— espe-
cially when used on a rubber mouse pad.
Furthermore, the mechanical mouse
doesn't need a pad, as an optical mouse
does. Some users don't want to give up
the desk space, or restrict the mouse to a
limited field.

Finally, the mechanical design more
readily accommodates higher mouse res-
olutions. You can cram only so many
black and blue lines onto an optical
mouse pad before you begin to lose the
ability to resolve them.

What about the two species of me-
chanical mice? Electromechanical mice
suffer from a couple of problems that
their optomechanical cousins solve.
With an electromechanical mouse, the
electrical contacts on the encoders can
"bounce" a bit. This affects accuracy
and requires a compensating circuit de-
sign. Electromechanical mice also tend

396 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

HANDS ON
UNDER THE HOOD

to wear out their encoders, since there
are always points of physical contact.
The optomechanical design eliminates
bounce, and there's no encoder wear (ex-
cept at rotational joints). The optoelec-
tronic design of the encoders also sup-
ports higher resolution. Most high-
resolution mice are optomechanical
(although the 350-point-per-inch PC
Mouse III optical mouse from Mouse
Systems is the exception to this rule) .

The Resolution Revolution

The resolution of a mouse refers to the
number of points it can detect for every
inch of movement. The distance between
two adjacent points (the shortest distance
the mouse can resolve) is measured in a
half-dozen different units. Programmers
who work with mice have whimsically
coined the unit mickey, but the industry
is using more common ones, including
dots per inch (dpi), counts per inch (cpi),
pulses per inch (ppi), and points per inch
(another ppi, and the one used for this
article).

Early mice, like the original Microsoft
mouse, had a resolution of 100 ppi. Most
of today's mice have a 200-ppi resolu-
tion, as did Microsoft's second- and
third-generation mice. Some newer high-
resolution mice register between 320 and
400 ppi, including Microsoft's latest
400-ppi entry. There has been some de-
bate over the necessity of resolutions as
high as 400 ppi, but some users claim
smoother mouse operation on high-reso-
lution screens when using a high-resolu-
tion mouse.

Mouse Interfaces

In what form do the signals enter your
PC, and how does the PC process them?
That depends. Three primary types of
mouse interfaces are common in the PC
world: bus, serial, and special port.

The earliest mice were bus mice. They
came with a half-size interface board
that plugged into one of the PC's expan-
sion bus slots; the board drew its power
from the expansion bus. The board pro-
cessed signals from the mouse, and peri-
odically generated interrupts to pass
mouse movement and button-press infor-
mation to the mouse driver.

Microsoft made a substantial contri-
bution to the PC mouse market when it
introduced a serial version of its mouse in
1984. The serial mouse could plug into a
standard COMl or COM2 RS-232C
serial port. It didn't need a bus interface
board or any other external circuitry.
The mouse included a small controller
that sent packets of information to the PC
via the serial port. The controller re-

Circle 257 on Reader Service Card — >.

quired so little power that it could operate
without an external power source, sim-
ply by drawing its power from the RS-
232C request-to-send (RTS) handshake
line. This became a trend in the mouse
industry, and now most mice are of the
serial variety.

I should mention one caution concern-
ing the use of serial mice with laptop
computers. Since these mice draw their
power from the serial port itself, they ex-
pect to see the typical PC voltage of

around -I- 12V on the RTS handshake
line. When laptops are operating on bat-
tery power, however, a lower voltage is
often used to generate the serial-port sig-
nals. This prevents many serial mice
from working properly with the system.
If you use the laptop's AC adapter, of
course, there won't be a problem.

If you don't count Microsoft's brief
flirtation with its Mach 10 PC turbo
board (using the company's proprietary
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HANDS ON
UNDER THE HOOD

first company to include a mouse port
(aka, "pointing device" port) on its sys-
tems. The mouse port on IBM's PS/2
systems (Models 50 and up) is essentially
a bus-mouse interface built into the sys-
tem motherboard.

Some of the newer bus mice have taken
a different approach to implementing the
PC/mouse interface. Rather than offer
two different mice— one serial and one
bus — some manufacturers combine the
two into a single serial mouse. The "bus

interface" in this situation is functional-
ly little more than a standard serial port
that maps to an I/O address other than
COMlorCOM2.

How Serial Mice Communicate

Serial mice send multiple-byte packets of
information to the PC to indicate the di-
rectional movement of the mouse and the
status of the mouse push buttons. A cou-
ple of packet formats have emerged as the
predominant standards in the industry.

Most applications, however, don't need
to worry about them; the mouse driver
hides the packet formats.

The two-button Microsoft packet for-
mat is the most popular format in use.
The packet comprises 3 bytes; only the 7
low-order bits of each byte are signifi-
cant. The first byte includes the 2 high-
order bits of both the x- and y-position
values, and the status of the two push but-
tons. The second byte contains the re-
maining 6 low-order j:-position bits,
while the third byte contains the remain-
ing 6 low-order y-position bits.

The 8-bit binary position values are in
two's-complement format (ranging from
— 128 to -i- 127), with a negative value in-
dicating movement left or up, and a posi-
tive value indicating movement right or
down. The mouse sends the packet only
when there's a change of state, such as a
movement of the mouse or a press or re-
lease of a button. The x- and }'-position
values sent in the packet indicate the
number of points the mouse has moved in
each direction since the last packet.

Transmitting only an 8-bit value for
each direction isn't a limitation— even
for high-resolution mice— because the
values indicate only the change in mouse
position since the last packet was sent.

For example, a typical serial mouse
operates at 1200 bps. That means each
byte needs about 7.5 milliseconds to pass
from the mouse to the PC (7 data bits, 1
start bit, and 1 stop bit), and each 3-byte
packet takes about 22.5 ms. Each packet
can specify a maximum position change
value of 127 (in each positive direction),
so the mouse can specify a position
change of up to 5644 (127/0.0225) points
per second. Even with a 400-ppi mouse,
this scheme allows for movement of over
14 inches per second.

Of course, the baud rate can always be
increased if this becomes a limitation. At
9600 bps, a serial mouse using the 3-byte
Microsoft packet format can support a
velocity of up to 1 12 inches per second.

The three-button Mouse Systems
packet format comprises 5 bytes. The
first byte reflects the current state of the
three buttons. The second byte specifies
the "first" A:-position value and the third
byte specifies the "first" y-position
value. The fourth and fifth bytes are
similar to the second and third, but spec-
ifying the "second" x- and y-position
values instead of the first; that is, the
change in the x- and y-positions since the
readings sent in the second and third
bytes. This can, for example, be helpful
in determining mouse velocity.

As with the Microsoft packet format,
the X- and y-position values are in two's

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HANDS ON
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complement format. A positive value in-
dicates movement right or up; a negative
value indicates movement left or down.

The Software Perspective

It is probably obvious that Microsoft has
set the standard for PC mice. You'd be
hard-pressed to find one that doesn't tout
"Microsoft Mouse compatibility."

DOS applications generally access the
mouse movement and button information
by making calls to a mouse driver. Vir-

tually every PC mouse includes a mouse
driver that emulates the Microsoft Mouse
driver to make the mouse look like a
Microsoft Mouse to the application.
Many mice also come with a driver to
emulate a Mouse Systems PC Mouse.

Interestingly, the mouse driver inter-
acts directly with the video adapter to
control mouse cursor movement. The
driver must therefore include support for
the video adapter you use to ensure prop-
er operation on your system. Naturally,

all current mouse drivers support the
standard video adapters, including
MDA, CGA, EGA and VGA, but if you
are using something a little newer (like
an 8514/A adapter) or something out of
the ordinary, the mouse driver may not
support it. Check if you are unsure.

Microsoft's mouse driver supports 35
function calls (see the table). The driver
offers a lot of flexibility to the mouse
programmer. While it is not possible to
describe all the functions in detail here, I
will briefly describe some of them.

The Mouse Reset and Status function
(0) sets several mouse parameters to de-
fault values (e.g., the mickeys-per-pixel
ratio), and returns the current status of
the mouse; that is, whether or not the
mouse has been found, and which mouse
buttons, if any, are currently pressed.
This function also hides the mouse cur-
sor on the screen if it is displayed.

The Show Cursor and Hide Cursor
functions (1 and 2) control whether or
not the mouse displays its cursor on the
screen. A counter value determines when
to display the cursor. When the counter
is 0 the cursor appears, otherwise it does
not. The counter decrements with each
Hide Cursor call and increments with
each Show Cursor (although it cannot be
incremented past 0). Thus, it takes three
Show Cursor calls to undo three Hide
Cursor calls.

The Get Button Status and Mouse Po-
sition function (3) returns the current
status of the mouse buttons and the cur-
rent cursor position on the screen. Be-
ware, however, that the mouse driver
uses a "virtual screen" matrix for deter-
mining the position of its cursor, and that
virtual screen isn't always the same as
the physical pixel array on the screen.

In the case of a medium-resolution
graphics screen with a 320- by 200-pixel
matrix, the mouse's virtual screen would
be 640 by 200 pixels. The virtual screen
concept is intended to simplify mouse
programming. You can address the vir-
tual screen (which is always a minimum
of 640 by 200 pixels) and allow the
mouse driver to translate the addressed
position to the correct location on the dis-
play, based on the current video mode.
For some high-resolution EGA and VGA
modes, the virtual screen expands to 640
by 350 or 640 by 480 pixels, but for all
other modes, the virtual screen remains
at 640 by 200 pixels.

Function 15, Set Mickey/Pixel Ratio
allows you to adjust the mouse sensitivity
by selecting the number of mickeys, or
points, required to move the mouse cur-
sor eight pixels on the screen. You can set
the value to anything between 1 and

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HANDS ON
UNDER THE HOOD

Microsoft's mouse driver supports 35 functions, which provide a great deal
of flexibility to the mouse programmer.

Function

number

Description

0

Mouse Reset and Status

1

Show Cursor

2

Hide Cursor

3

Get Button Status and Mouse Position

4

Set Mouse Cursor Position

5

Get Button Press Information

6

Get Button Release Information

7

Set Minimum and Maximum Horizontal Cursor

Position

8

Set Minimum and Maximum Vertical Cursor Position

9

bet Graphics Cursor Block

10

Set Text Cursor

1 1

Read Mouse Motion Counters

12

Set Interrupt Subroutine Call Mask and Address

13

Light Pen Emulation Mode On

14

Light Pen Emulation Mode Off

15

Set Mickey/Pixel Ratio

16

Conditional Off

19

Set double-speed threshold

OWdp i( ILc! (U|JL SUUIUUUI ICO

21

Get mouse driver state storage requirements

22

Save mouse driver state

23

Restore mouse driver state

24

Set alternate subroutine call mask and address

25

Get user alternate interrupt address

26

Set mouse sensitivity

27

Get mouse sensitivity

28

Set mouse interrupt rate

29

Set CRT page number

30

Get CRT page number

31

Disable mouse driver

32

Enable mouse driver

33

Software reset

34

Set languages for messages

35

Get language number

36

Get driver version, mouse type, and IRQ number

32,767, inclusive. Another way to adjust
the mouse sensitivity is to use Function
26, Set Mouse Sensitivity.

Function 36, Get Driver Version,
Mouse Type, and IRQ (interrupt request)
Number, returns the mouse driver ver-
sion, the mouse type (e.g., bus, serial,
InPort, or PS/2), and the IRQ number.
This information can help determine if
the current mouse and driver is compat-
ible with the application.

An application can access a mouse
driver in a couple of ways. One option is
to link a .LIB file containing the driver
with the application program. That way,
the application supports the mouse di-
rectly. More commonly, however, users
install the driver by way of the CON-
FIG.SYS file (DEVICE =MOUSE. SYS)
or the AUTOEXEC.BAT file (MOUSE-
.COM), and the application accesses the
driver functions by making calls to soft-
ware interrupt 33 hexadecimal.

The Microsoft Mouse Programmer's
Reference (Microsoft Press, 1989) fully
describes the operation of the Microsoft
Mouse driver.

MOUSE. SYS and MOUSE.COM
work well enough in the DOS world (al-
though I have seen incompatibilities), but
the whole picture changes when you
switch to a protected-mode operating
system. OS/2 and Unix can't use a stan-
dard MOUSE. SYS driver to allow a
mouse to emulate a Microsoft mouse, be-
cause such drivers won't work in pro-
tected mode. If these operating systems
don't include support for your mouse,
you'll need a special driver. Generally,
you'll have more options with a serial
mouse— particularly one that supports
the Microsoft Mouse packet format.

ICBM: Infinitely Configurable
Ballistic Mice

An increasing number of mice support a
feature known as ballistic tracking (or
variable acceleration). At times, you may
need to use your mouse for some detailed
cursor movement at one part of your
screen and then move clear across the
screen for some further detailed work.
Operating at high resolution, the trek
across the screen can take a long time,
and require several repeated movements
of your mouse.

With ballistic tracking, the mouse can
detect when you move it faster. As its ve-
locity increases, it automatically changes
the number of points per inch to allow
faster travel across long distances. As it
slows down, it reduces the number of
points per inch to again allow more de-
tailed cursor movement.

Ballistic tracking can be implemented

with an on-board controller or in the
mouse driver software. Although most
who have tried it like ballistic tracking (it
beats repeatedly pounding your desk
with your mouse to get the cursor across
the screen) some find it irritating. If
you're unsure, make sure your mouse
has the option to disable the feature.

A Faithful Companion

The mouse has come a long way in the
past five years, but in terms of technol-
ogy, little has changed. The basic mouse
design remains essentially the same,
with increments in resolution being the
only real thing to show for the longevity
of the mouse.

Experience has shown that mice in
general are quite reliable, most operate
basically as well as others, and resolution
is often not a big concern. Some users
prefer optical mice because there are no
moving parts and nothing to clean; the
mouse pad, however, takes up a chunk of
your valuable desk space. Other users
prefer the mechanical mouse to avoid the

optical mouse pad; but the roller ball gets
dirty and must be cleaned periodically.

A serial mouse or a bus mouse? All
other things being equal, it depends on
whether you can more easily spare a
serial port or an expansion bus slot. The
final decision usually comes down to
whether you like the size, the style, the
color, the length of the tail, the number
of push buttons, and the price.

PC mice will continue to grow in pop-
ularity. Continuing evolution of the PC
mouse will be in the area of ergonomics;
I doubt resolution will push much beyond
400 ppi. Other pointing devices, espe-
cially trackballs, will gain some ground
but the mouse is not likely to give away
very much of its cheese. ■

Roger Alford is a computer design engi-
neer and a freelance writer. He can be
reached on BIXc/o "editors. "

Your questions and comments are wel-
come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One
Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH
03458.

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 401

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HANDS ON

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

■ Rick Grehan

Part 2

^ Talking Tasks

A look at how OS/2
and Unix handle
interprocess
communications

Tis month, I will continue my
tour of interprocess communi-
cations. So far, I have looked
at the IPC facilities provided by
Quarterdeck's Desqview and Micro-
soft's Windows. I'll now focus on OS/2
and Unix.

The fact that OS/2 and Unix appear in
the same column is more or less an acci-
dent — but it's a happy one. As it turns
out, remarkable similarities exist be-
tween the IPC facilities of both operating
systems. The similarities appear at a
high level— the implementations are
quite different— but this lets me present
the material in an overlapped fashion.

Pipes

In the wide array of IPC structures, the
pipe is perhaps the simplest. It's a uni-
directional communication path, usually
leading from a parent process to one of its
offspring processes, or vice versa. Data
passes through a pipe in a purely un-
structured form: a "stream" of bytes
whose members come out the receiving
end in the same order they were poured
in at the sending end. Thus, the name
pipe (see figure 1).

Since pipes are one-way streets, you
usually acquire them in pairs.

OS/2 and Pipes

You create OS/2 pipes using the Dos-
MakePipeO routine, which returns two
handles: one for the read pipe, and the
other for the write pipe. This looks strik-
ingly similar to the Unix System V
pipe ( ) system call that I discuss later.

You'll notice I said that pipes are "usu-
ally" connected between a parent pro-

cess and a child process. This is not so
for named pipes, which can connect un-
related processes (see figure 2).

As their title suggests, you can attach
identifying names to named pipes, and
these names are accessible to other pro-
cesses. The name you pick actually con-
forms to OS/2 filenaming conventions
and has the form \plpe\rajrplpe, which
specifies a pipe called "mypipe."

OS/2 named pipes operate in a client-
server fashion: A server task creates the
named pipe and awaits the connection of
a client. An example is shown in the code
fragments of listing 1 , where the server
builds a named pipe called "mypipe."
The server task will wait at the DosCon-
nectNmPipeO call until the client exe-
cutes a DosOpenO on the named pipe. At
that time, the connection is established,
and the two tasks can communicate.
(Once you create pipes, you can read and
write to them as though they were files.)

In the example I've given, the server
has created an inbound pipe, meaning
that the client can only write to the pipe
and the server can only read from it.

Named pipes can be inbound, outbound,
or duplex (i.e. , bidirectional).

OS/2's named pipes enjoy another
feature: They can be byte-wide or mes-
sage-wide. A byte-wide pipe is a pipe in
the strict sense; data is sent through the
pipe as a byte-at-a-time stream. How-
ever, a message-wide pipe looks much
like a message queue. You can send data
in chunks of arbitrary size. (Interest-
ingly, OS/2's DosTransactNmPlpeO
function lets you read and write data
through a pipe at a single call. Of course,
this works only if you open the pipe in
duplex mode.)

The Pipes of Unix

You create a Unix System V pipe with a
pipe ( descripts ) call, where de-
scrlpts is a two-element integer array.
The first member of the array is the file
descriptor for reading the pipe; the sec-
ond member is the file descriptor for
writing the pipe.

Typically, you create a pipe between a
parent process and a child process. The
example most often given in Unix texts is

A SIMPLE PIPE

nt process

Read or write

Child process

Figure 1: A pipe provides a single read or write connection between a parent
process and a child process. If you create a pipe for writing from the parent process,
you must open it for reading from the child, and vice versa. Two-way communication
requires two pipes.

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 403

HANDS ON
SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

redirecting standard input through the
pipe and executing a program. It looks
something like what's shown in listing 2.

In listing 2, you simply point the char-
acter pointer variable cmd to some string
holding the name of a command you want
to execute, grep perhaps. The program
issues a fork() system call, and the
child process does the dirty work of redi-
recting the plumbing so that the parent
task can write down the pipe, and the
program launched by the execl() sys-
tem call will see that data coming in
through standard input.

Unix implements the equivalent of
named pipes by using a special file type,
FIFO, the acronym for first-in/first-out.
Although FIFOs are not commonly used,
they are the mechanism used by the Unix
print spooler. Since a FIFO file is an en-
tity of the Unix file system, it has owner,
group, and world permissions and own-
ership as any other file. You need to pay
special attention to ownership and per-
missions when you create a FIFO.

The function call looks like raknod
(pathname, mode, 0), where pathname
is the name of the FIFO, and mode is the

permissions ORed with the SJFIFO flag
(defined in sys/stat.h) to indicate that
a FIFO is being created. (The mknod
function is used for creating all the di-
rectories and file types in the file sys-
tem.) Once you have a FIFO, you can
open it for reading or writing with the
same functions that are available for
standard files.

Generally, FIFOs are opened only for
reading by a daemon (background pro-
cess), which uses whatever is poured in
as its input. Then, as other processes
need the facilities of the daemon, they
send their data to it. The System V print
spooler uses a FIFO to communicate be-
tween the user's Ip processes and the
system's printer daemon, Ipsched. The
FIFO also handles communications be-
tween other processes and the daemon. If
each message is less than the capacity of
the FIFO (i.e., 4096 bytes), it is guaran-
teed to be atomic; messages cannot mix.
FIFOs provide a simple many-to-one
IPC that does not require the processes to
be related.

Semaphores

Semaphores stand apart from the other
IPC structures I've discussed. Unlike
pipes, mailboxes, and such, it is not their
job to pass data from one task to another.
Rather, a semaphore exists to control ac-
cess to a shared resource. It might be eas-
ier to think of a semaphore as a form of
interprocess coordination, rather than
interprocess communication.

In essence, a semaphore is a variable.
What makes it special is that your pro-
gram performs indivisible operations on
the variable. That is, while your program
is accessing the semaphore variable, it is
doing so exclusively (see figure 3).

For example, suppose that you have a
printer server that— for reasons of mem-
ory constraint— manages a request queue
that can hold no more than 10 filenames.
If you build a semaphore to manage ac-
cess to the queue, you would initialize
the semaphore variable to a value of 10.
Thereafter, whenever a client program
wishes to send a request down the queue,
the client first examines the value of the
semaphore.

If the value is greater than zero, there
is room in the queue and the client task
proceeds to insert the request. The client
then decrements the semaphore variable
to indicate that the request has consumed
a queue slot. If the client program sees
that the semaphore is zero (indicating
that the queue is full), the program either
indicates the queue-full condition to an
operator or waits for the semaphore to as-
sume a nonzero value.

Listing 1: Creating an OS/2 named pipe. The pipe is an inbound pipe,
and it 's byte-wide. I've reserved 512 bytes for the input buffer, and I'll specify
a default wait of 500 milliseconds for the DosWaitNmPipe ( ) — other tasks
will use that function when trying to open this pipe.

DosMakeNmPlpe ( "pipe \ \ myploe " , toiyphaiwi , PIPE _ACCESS_INBOUND ,
PIPE_READMODE_BYTE f PIPE_TYPE_BYTE | PIPE_WAIT,
0,512,500L);

/•

Wait for a connection to this piDe.

*/

DosConnectNmPipe(&myphand) ;

/»

** Read from the pipe.

»« Reaa 50 bytes Into buff (which should be char «).
•/

Dosread( myphand , buf f , 50 , &bytesred) ;
/•

«» Close the oioe down.
*l

Dos DisConneGtNmPipe(myphand) J
DosClose(myphand) ;

A NAMED PIPE OR UNIX FIFO

Server process

Read or write

Named pipe i .client ,
or FIFO i_, I I

Figure 2: Named pipes do not require a parent-child relationship between the
communicating processes. The client processes can come and go independently
from the server.

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Circle 233 on Reader Service Card

HANDS ON
SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

Listing 2: Creating a Unix pipe that writes to a child process.

int pipe(Jesc[2] ;

char *cmd;

/♦

»» Maie a Dipe. Return NULL if failure.
•/

if(pipe(Dipedeso)==ERROR) return(NULL) ;
/»

** Fork a new process to execute Drogram.
*/

ifC(pid=fork())==0)

{ /* Child process here */

/* Close writing side of pipe */

Glose(pipedesc[l] ) ;

/* Close standard input. */

close(O) ;

/* Dup read side-becomes standard input */

dup{pipedesc[0]);

/* Close old read side of pipe */

close(pipedesc[0] ) ;

/* Execute the a program */

execl("/bin/ sh", "sh", "-c",cmd,0) ;

exit{l);

}

/*

** Parent process here.
•« Handle fork failure.
»/

if {pld==-l) return(NULL) ;
/•

** Close reading side of the pipe.

»/

closeCpipedesc[0] ) ;

/«

** Now, anything I write to pipedesc[l] will
** be passed to the program specified in cmd.

As requests are taken off the queue,
the server increments the semaphore to
indicate that queue slots have become
available. All these increments, decre-
ments, and comparisons on the sema-
phore variable occur so that only one pro-

cess has control of the semaphore at a
time. This is critical in a multitasking
system: While one process is examining
the value of the semaphore variable, you
can be sure that another process is not in
the midst of modifying that variable.

OS/2 Semaphores

OS/2 provides several kinds of sema-
phores and a variety of supporting func-
tions. System semaphores are named ob-
jects, as were the named pipes that I
described earlier. Consequently, you
create a system semaphore by specifying
a name that conforms to the OS/2 file-
naming convention, and the operating
system returns a handle by which your
program can reference that semaphore.
For example, the following routine:

DosCreateSem ( CSEM_PUBLIC ,
Stsemhand, ' ' \ \sem\ \mysem' ' ) ;

creates a public semaphore called "my-
sem."

The first argument to the function is a
system-defined constant that specifies
that this particular semaphore's value
can be modified by other tasks. (If I had
created the semaphore with a first argu-
ment of CSEM_PRIVATE, the other tasks
could only read the semaphore's con-
tents.) OS/2 places the handle to this
semaphore in the doubleword variable
serahand. Another task in the system can
gain access to this semaphore with the
following call:

DosOpenSem( Scsemhand,
' ' \\sera\\mysem' ');

Unlike a system semaphore, a RAM
semaphore is not maintained by the OS/2
kernel. Rather, it is simply an unsigned
long variable that you create as a global
variable in the owning process. This pre-
sumes some discipline on your part: If
you create a variable that is to become a
RAM semaphore, you must manipulate
that variable only through OS/2 sema-
phore functions. To do otherwise could
violate the indivisibility of semaphore ac-
cess and would surely result in flaky
code.

Since a RAM semaphore is simply a
global variable, processes don't need to
call DosCreateSem( ) to construct them,
or DosOpenSem to gain access to them. In
fact, only threads local to the process can
access the RAM semaphore, so a call to
DosOpenSem makes no real sense in the
context of a RAM semaphore.

OS/2 semaphores are binary sema-
phores: They are either set or cleared.
You can create the effect of a multivalued
semaphore (also known as a general
semaphore)— as in the print-queue exam-
ple I gave earlier— by constructing a
semaphore that permits access to a vari-
able in a shared-memory segment. (I'll
discuss shared memory later.) The OS/2
routines for managing semaphores can

A SEMAPHORE

0 I 0 0

Independent
process
1

1

0

Independe nt
process
2

0

1 0

0 1

Indep

jndent ppcess
4

Independent
process
3

1 0

0 1

Independent
process
5

Figure 3: A semaphore is a variable that is shared among processes. Only one
process can act on the variable at a time. Thus, a semaphore is ideal for control
of other forms of interprocess communications.

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HANDS ON
SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

Listing 3: Creating an OS/2 semaphore.

** Instance of semaphore.
•/

struct sembuf unlock = {0,1.SEM_UNDO};
/*

** Create a semaphore with one member.

*/

if ( (mysem=seiiiget (SEMKEY, 1, IPC_CREAT| IPC_EXCL|WM0DE) ) ==ERROR
{

printf ("**Cannot create semaphore \ n" ) ;
exit(O);

}

/*

** Unlock the resource controlled by the semaphore.

*/

if (semop(myseni, &unlook, 1) ==ERROR)

printf ( "**Semaphore error \ n" ) ;
exit(O);

}

I*

Release the semaphore.

•/

semctl(niysem,0,IPC_RMID);

operate on RAM semaphores as well as
system semaphores.

To set a semaphore, you call DosSem-
Set(mysem), where mysem is either a
handle to a system semaphore or the ad-
dress of a RAM semaphore. You clear a
semaphore with the call DosSemClear
(mysem). Finally, your program can
wait for a specified semaphore to be
cleared by calling DosSemWait(mysem) .

However, to securely manage a re-
source, the operations of waiting on the
semaphore to clear and immediately set-
ting it must occur without interruption
(as I described above). You can accom-
plish this with the call DosSemRequest
(mysem, Itlme) , where mysem refer-
ences a semaphore as before, and Itlme
is a doubleword specifying a millisecond
time-out value.

DosSemRequest ( ) will wait for the in-
dicated semaphore to clear or until the
time given in Itlme has elapsed. If the

semaphore clears, DosSemRequest ( )
immediately sets the semaphore and re-
turns to the caller. If DosSemRequest ()
times out, it returns a value that is an
error code indicating the time-out con-
dition.

Finally, if you've got a number of
semaphores riding herd on various events
and you want to monitor them as a group,
you can use DosMuxSemWalt() . This
routine accepts an array of semaphore
handles and waits for any member of the
set to clear.

Unix Semaphores

Under Unix System V, you can create
groups of semaphores— referred to as a
semaphore set — with one call. Also,
Unix semaphores can be multivalued,
and the operating system provides a com-
plex array of semaphore operations (i.e.,
the operations go beyond simply setting
or clearing the semaphore).

Whereas OS/2 system semaphores are
identified by name, Unix System V
semaphores are identified by a unique
number referred to as a facility key. This
key is of type key_t, and on most Unix
systems it is simply a 32-bit number. The
key acts as the semaphore's system- wide
identifier— any process that knows the
identifier can access the semaphore.
(You'll see the facility key cropping up
several times before this article is done.
It is roughly the Unix equivalent of
OS/2's named objects.)

Unix System V provides three system
calls for manipulating semaphores. They
are:

• semget( ) , which lets you create
semaphores;

• semop( ) , which lets you operate on
semaphores; and

• semctl( ) , which provides a
number of service functions for
examining and modifying a
semaphore's status.

You can also use seractl( ) to delete the
semaphore.

I've provided some code fragments
highlighting usage of semaphores in list-
ing 3. The call to semget() creates a
semaphore with an identifying key set by
the constant SEMKEY and containing one
member (the number of semaphores in
the set is determined by the second argu-
ment). The third argument to semgetO
is a flags word that (in the example given)
tells the system to create the semaphore if
it doesn't already exist; if it does, return
an error condition.

The semopO call also takes three ar-
guments. The first is the semaphore's
identifying key, the second is the pointer
to an array of semaphore operation struc-
tures, and the third is the number of en-
tries in that array. Since Unix System V

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HANDS ON
SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

lets you create sets of semaphores with
one call (and identified by a single key),
having the ability to pass in multiple op-
erations per the semop() call is a real
time and space saver.

In listing 3, the array consists of only
one member, and you can see its defini-
tion near the beginning of the listing as
structure unlock. The first element of

the semaphore operation structure array
member (whew!) specifies the member
of the semaphore set with which this par-
ticular operation is concerned— zero in
the example, since there's only one
member of the semaphore set. The sec-
ond element specifies the operation it-
self: In listing 3, this operation value is
1 , which tells the system to increment the

Listing 4: OS/2 shared memory.

/* 'Selector for shared segment */

SEL myselect;

/•

See if shared segment exists.
** Create it if it doesn't.

»/

tfhlle(l)

lf{DosGetShrSeg("\ \sharemem\ \myshrseg",8!iiiyseleot)
= = ERR0R_FILE_NOT_FOUND)

If (DosAllooShrSeg(1000,"sharemem/ /myshrseg",&iiiyselect)==0)
break;

}

else

breaJc;

}

/»

** Free the shared segment.

»/

DosFreeSeg(myselect) ;

SHARED MEMORY

Independent

process

5

Jndependent
process
4

Shared memory

-I

Independent process
1

Independent process
3

1

Independent process
2

Figure 4: A region of memory that is shared among participating processes.

410 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

HANDS ON
SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

semaphore by 1 . The third element car-
ries a number of flags.

The example in listing 3 tells the sys-
tem to increment a system variable by the
amount that the operating system asso-
ciates with the semaphore and the pro-
cess. In this way, if the process dies un-
expectedly, Unix knows by what amount
to readjust the semaphore so that other
processes waiting on the semaphore will
not be stranded forever.

Finally, the program calls semctl()
to release the semaphore. I should point
out that you can use semctl() to do
much more than I've shown in listing 3.
For example, you can determine the pro-
cess ID of the last process to perform an
operation on the semaphore set, you can
determine how many processes are cur-
rently waiting for the value of a particu-
lar semaphore to become greater than its
present value, and more.

Shared Memory

In structure, shared memory is perhaps
the simplest of IPCs. Shared memory is
just that— a region of memory shared
among the participating processes.

This makes shared memory the fastest
form of IPC; data doesn't really move
from one place to another. Data written
into the shared memory by one process is
"instantly" available to all the processes
enjoying access to that memory (see fig-
ured).

OS/2 Shared Memory

OS/2 serves up shared memory in two
flavors: global and local. (Because of the
nature of the host processor, OS/2 docu-
mentation typically refers to shared
memory as shared segments. So that I
won't have to bog you down with shared-
memory segments, I'll simply use shared
segments for the rest of this section.)
When you create a global shared seg-
ment, you attach a name to it (as in
named pipes and sempahores). There-
after, any process that knows the name of
the segment can also access it.

Listing 4 shows a fragment of code in
which a process first looks for a global
shared segment and then — if the segment
is not found— creates the segment.

The code in listing 4 appears convo-
luted, thanks to the nature of manipulat-
ing shared objects in a multitasking envi-
ronment. If the call to DosGetShrSegO
fails because the segment does not exist
(ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND), the
if statement falls through to execute
DosAllocShrSegO , which actually
creates the shared segment.

However, between the return of Dos-
GetShrSegO and the execution of Dos-

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HANDS ON
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Listing 5: Unix shared memory.

int shmidj /* Shared memory identifier */

char *shmloc; /* Address where shared memory is mapped */

/*

** Create a IK-byte shared memory segment.

shmid=shmget(SHMKEy,102't,IPC_CREAT | IPC_EXCL | WMODE);
/•

** Attach it to our memory space.

** A second argument of 0 means we'll let Unix decide where to
** map the block.

** We can access the memory through oointer variable shmloc.

»/

shmloc=shmat(shinid, (char *)0,0);

/•

** Detach the shared memory block and release it.

•/

shmdt(shmloc) ;
shmctl(shinid,IPCJMID);

AllocShrSegO, there is a small chance
that another process might be switched in
by OS/2 and create the shared segment.
If that happens, when the program of list-
ing 4 resumes, the DosAllooShrSeg( )
will fail with an ERROR_ALREADY_
EXISTS return code. Hence, the while
loop, which reattempts the DosGetShr-
Seg( ) call and solves the problem.

OS/2's local shared segments are de-
signed to be more secure than global
shared segments. You don't reference the
segment by name; you reference it by a
segment selector. Since no globally ac-
cessible name is available for the seg-
ment, the process creating the shared
segment can control which other pro-
cesses have access to the segment.

For example, I can create a local
shared segment of 1000 bytes with a call
to the following:

DosAllocSeg(1000, toysel,
SEG_GIVEABLE);

where mysel will hold the selector to the
created segment. Of course, the segment
doesn't become shared until I give it
away.

To do this, I have to build a selector
that the other process can use to access
the segment. I do this with the following:

DosGlveSeg(mysel,hisid,
&hlssel)

where hlsid is the ID of the process to
which I want to allow access to the seg-
ment. Upon return, the variable hlssel
holds the selector that I can now pass to
the process identified by hisid. (Ironi-
cally, I would have to construct some
other form of IPC [e.g., a named mes-
sage queue or global shared segment] to
pass the selector to the other process.)

The above example isn't the only way
to manage local shared segments. I chose

to allocate the segment with attribute
SEG_GIVEABLE, which means it's my job
to create the selectors that get passed to
other tasks.

I could have created the segment with
attribute SEG_GETTABLE, in which case I
would pass other processes a copy of my
selector, and it would be their job to con-
vert that selector to one they could use
(via a call to DosGetSeg ( ) ) .

O5/2 's

local shared segments
are more secure than
global shared segments.

Unix Shared Memory

Unix System V makes no distinction be-
tween local and global shared memory
(as in OS/2).

If I were to use OS/2 terminology,
shared memory in Unix is always global.
When you create a shared-memory
block, you associate a facility key that
has the same form as I described in the
section on Unix semaphores. Any other
process that knows the key can attach it-
self to the shared-memory block.

You use the shmget ( ) call to create a
shared-memory block. If shmget ( ) com-
pletes successfully, it returns an integer
handle to the shared memory.

Your program then passes this handle
to the shmatO function, which "at-
taches" the memory block to your pro-
gram and returns a pointer to the starting
address of the shared-memory block.
Your program can read and write into the

memory block as it would any other
memory region.

At its completion, your program "de-
taches" the shared-memory block using
a call to shmdt () . This call doesn't actu-
ally destroy the shared-memory block; it
simply removes the caller's ability to ac-
cess the memory. You have to call the
shractlO routine to free the memory.
■ Typically, the task that built the shared-
memory block in the first place will be
the one to remove it.

I've given an example of creating and
using a shared-memory block in listing
5. The listing is very brief. Usually, you
will want to associate a semaphore with a
shared-memory block and use the sema-
phore to coordinate access to the
memory.

As with the semaphores, Unix asso-
ciates a structure with every shared-
memory block that the tasks create. This
structure carries information regarding
the shared-memory segment (e.g., the
ID of the process that created the shared-
memory block and the current number of
attached processes). Although in the ex-
ample in listing 5 I've used shmctl()
only to release the shared-memory struc-
ture, you can use that function to manip-
ulate information in the structure that
Unix associates with the shared-memory
block.

Message Queues

Actually, I have already given a cursory
description of message queues. They
first appeared last month when I talked
about Desqview's mailboxes. Also, in
OS/2, named pipes can do much of the
work of message queues.

The message queue derives its name
from its FIFO characteristics. Usually,
however, operating systems provide ways
to let important messages "cut in" the
queue ahead of current members.

OS/2 Queues

OS/2 queues are not restricted to FIFO
ordering of elements. When you create a
queue, you can select the ordering to be
one of the following:

• FIFO— which is a typical queue
(see figure 5a)

• last-in/first-out (LIFO)— which
causes the queue to behave like a
stack (see figure 5b)

• element priority— The sending
process can attach a priority to
each message item. When the
receiving process requests OS/2 to
pull the next item off the queue, the
operating system will select the
item with the highest priority first.

412 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

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HANDS ON
SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

As with other named items, when you
create a message queue, you must give
OS/2 a unique file-type name to asso-
ciate with the queue. The name must be-
gin with the string \ \ queues \ \ , so a call
to create a FIFO queue named "my-
queue" looks like the following:

DosCreateQueue ( &qhand,
QUE_FIFO, "\\ queues

\ \myqueue

where qhand is a variable that will hold
the queue handle when the call returns.

The creator of the queue is the only
process allowed to remove elements from
the queue. Other processes can write ele-
ments into the queue, but before they do,
they must open the queue with the fol-
lowing call:

DosOpenQueue ( &qowner , &qhand ,
' ' \ \ queues \ \ myqueue ' ' )

where qhand is the handle (as above),
and qowner is a variable that receives the
process ID of the queue's creator. Your
program can then issue a write request to
the queue with something like the follow-
ing:

DosWriteQueue ( qhand, rqid, 8 ,
' 'AMessage' ' , priority) ;

The first argument is the handle. The

second is a program-supplied request/
identification field that your programs
can use to support any sort of private pro-
tocol you dream up. The third argument
is, obviously, the length of the message—
a pointer to which follows as the fourth
argument. The fifth and final argument
is the priority, which can range from 0 to
15 (highest priority) and sets the mes-
sage's element priority. As you might
guess, the system recognizes the final
argument only if the queue is an element-
priority type. Otherwise, you read items
off the queue in FIFO or LIFO order.

You read a queue with the following
call:

DosReadQueue( qhand, Streqinf ,
&s ize , Sqelement , 0 , DCWW_WAIT ,
&prlorlty,NULL);

which has a boatload of arguments. The
first is the queue handle; that's easy.
Next comes a structure that carries re-
sults of the read request (information like
the process ID of the source of the mes-
sage). The size variable holds the num-
ber of bytes of the queue element the pro-
gram has just read. Next is a pointer to
the buffer that will hold the queue ele-
ment. The next argument indicates which
member of the queue you want re-
trieved—for the standard FIFO queue,
the argument is ignored, so I've set it to
zero. I used DCWW_WAIT to tell OS/2 that I

a)

FIFO AND LIFO QUEUES

b)

Last-in/first-out

First-in/first-out

Figure 5: (a) As with a pipe, the first data written to a first-in/first-out message
queue is the first data read out by another process, (b) The last-in/first-out message
queue is like a stack; the last data written to a LIFO message queue is the first data
to be read.

414 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Unleash Your 386, 486 & i860!

NDP Fortran is your key to unlocking the
numeric power of Intel's 32-bit CPUs, including
the i860. If you're burning up a lot of VAX or Cray
time, you should seriously consider the Number
Smasher-860. It delivers super-computer
throughput, njnning in an ISA bus, for about the
price of a 486 system. With Number Smasher-
860 and NDP C or Fortran-860, you can recom-
pile all of your C or FORTRAN programs and
run them in any 286, 386, or 486 AT system.

MicroWay's compilers come with the features
you need to simplify porting to the 32-bit mode
of the 386, 486, or i860, including a 99% VAX/
VMS compatible FORTRAN and a dual dialect
C which is U NIX System V and ANSI compatible.
Each NDP compiler is designed to take maxi-

mum advantage of 32-bit protected mode
operation, including the 4 gigabyte address
space of the processor, plus access to
coprocessors from Intel, Weitek and Cyrix.
Each compiler includes a library of 1 35 charac-
ter and pixel oriented graphics routines that
automatically detect and support the full range
of PC display adapters. In addition, we carry a
full line of third party libraries and utilities that
were ported with our languages.

The new releases of our languages include a
linker that uses incremental links to speed up
building very large programs, a new inlining
facility that makes it possible to inline functions
in any of our languages (this is an especially
important 0 optimization) and a tnje C++ com-

piler that is AT&T version 2.0 compatible. NDP
C++ contains a full ANSI C compiler as a subset.
NDP C is your choice if you have to compile a
mixture of ANSI, UNIX V, or K&R C applications.
Finally, ClearView, our new symbolic debugger,
uses windowing and a C-like interpreter with
FORTRAN extensions that make it easy to
debug C or FORTRAN programs without
resorting to an assembly language debugger.

MicroWay is still your best source for numeric
coprocessors and accelerators. Call for your
free copy of "The State of PC Numerics in
1 990" by Stephen Fried.

For more information, please call our Tech-
nical Support Dept. at (508) 746-7341.

386, 486 & i860 Compilers

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Number Smasher-486™

Our NDP family of compilers generate globally
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from all three compilers and assembly lan-
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released a full-featured, windowing symbolic
debugger, ClearView-3/486, that works with
DOS versions of NDP 386 and 486 compilers.

NDP Fortran™ is a full F77 with F66 and DOD
extensions that is 99% VMS compatible.
NDP C™ runs in two modes— K&R with Sys V
and MSG extensions or 100% ANSI as
validated by Plum Hall.

NDP Pascal™ is a full ANSI/IEEE Pascal, with
extensions from C and BSD 4.2 Pascal.
NDP C++™ is a fully AT&T v.2.0 compatible
C++ compiler (not a preprocessor) that con-
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NDP-860 compilers each $1995

DOS 386SX versions-NDP Tools included $595
DOS 386 versions-NDP Tools included . $895
DOS 486 versions-NDP Tools included $11 95

UNIX/XENIX versions CALL

NDP VMEM Virtual Memory Manager $295

Eclipse or Phar Lap Tools $495

NDP Link - Incremental Linker $295

ClearView-3/486 Debugger™ $395

NDP Windows™Library : $1 25, C Source: $250

NDP Plot™ $325

NDP/FFT™NDP or 80x87 version . . . ea. $250
NDP to HALO '88 Graphics Interface $100
Media Cybernetics' Halo '88 $395

NDP NAG™ Workstation library is a subset of
the NAG mainframe libraries. It contains 1 72
routines designed to solve differential equa-
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operations, fit curves, do statistics and regres-
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expansion module for Compaq Deskpro 386
20/25 One meg.. $150, Four meg .. $400

The Number Smasher-860 is the highest perfor-
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or EISA bus or as part of a transputer system.
Delivers up to 80 million floating point operations
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comes standard with an ISA interface, two
transputer link adapters, your choice of NDP
Fortran, C++, C or Pascal for the i860 running
under MS-DOS or UNIX, plus 8 megabytes of

high speed memory 33 MHz $6995

40 MHz $9200 32 MB version: add $5000

Parailei Processing

MicroWay's IBM compatible Monoputer, Quad-
puter, Videoputer, and Linkputer boards work
together using Inmos transputers to provide
expandable, plug-in mainframe performance
for your desktop PC.

Monoputer™ — Includes one T800 and up to
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The 4 MWhetstones T800 makes it the ideal
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ofyour mainframe programs from $1 145

Quadputer™— This board for the AT or 386

can be purchased with 1 to 4 transputers and
1 or 4 meg of memory per transputer. Two or
more Ouadputers can be linked together to
build networks of up to 1 00 or more transputers
providing mainframe power from $ 1 845

Linkputer™ — Links up to 8 boards to provide
dynamic transputer topologies $ 1 500

Transputer Compilers and Utilities

These parallel languages are designed for use
with the Monoputer, Quadputer and Videoputer.

Logical Systems Parallel C $595

3L Parallel C, FORTRAN, or Pascal . . $895
TBUG — debugger for 3L compilers . . .$330

Parsec Parallel C/dynamic $1500

ParaSoft EXPRESS — Includes transputer
communications libraries, parallel code
development library, C source level debugger,

and system performance monitor $1 500

Helios PC/s $1250

Nexis Windows File Server $495

T800/NAG™ — Port of the complete NAG
mainframe library. Contains 268 functions; $2750

Personal Workstation magazine, June 1990,
said. The Number Smasher-466 lives up to its
name. Its numeric performance exceeds that of
all 25-MHz systems we've tested to date. It gives
you top 486 performance for the best price. "
NumberSmasher-486™ is a 25 MHz replace-
ment motherboard for ATs and 80386s. This
motherboard supports an optional Weitek 4167
numeric coprocessor and up to 16 megabytes
of memory. Running with a 4167, our design
delivers up to 10 megaflops. The Number
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n/lath Coprocessors

WEITEK, INTEL, CYRIX

4167-25 $995

4167-33 .$1295

3167-20/-25/-33 $495/$795/$995

mW1167 Micro Channel-16/20 . . from $495
mW31 67 Micro Channel-25/33 . . from $1295

mW3167/80387 Board $200

8087 $80 8087-2 $115

80287-8 $185 80387-16SX . . $280

80387-16 .. .$295 80387-20SX . . $300

80387-20 . . $345 80387-25 $439

80287XL ..$210 80387-33 $540

287Turbo-20™ $345

CyrixCX83D87FasMath™ SX16MHz$275
20 MHz: $375 25 MHz: $460 33 MHz: $570

386 Your AT!

FASTCache-SX™ — The most cost effective
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16MHz:$495 20 MHz: $595

NUMBER SMASHER-386™ — This full-sized
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HANDS ON
SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

want to wait for an item to appear on the
queue (if it's empty).

The priority variable carries the ele-
ment's priority that was set by the sender
in DosWriteQueue ( ) . The last argument
usually carries a system semaphore han-
dle that can control access to the queue.
However, it's ignored because I chose
DCWW_WAIT.

As a final tidbit, there often comes a
time when you want to see what's on the
queue without actually taking anything
off it. You can use DosPeedQueue() for
the job.

Unix Queues

In Unix, the creation and manipulation
of message queues looks a lot like what
I've already described in the sections on
semaphores and shared memory. Mes-
sage queues are identified by a facility
key that is available systemwide.

By now, you've probably become fa-
miliar enough with the Unix conventions
for working with IPCs that I won't have
to go into much detail. You create a mes-
sage queue with a call to msgget() ; you
release the queue by calling msgctl().
As with semctlO and shmctl(),
msgctlO provides access to system-
maintained status information associated
with the queue. You can use msgctl( ) to
determine such information as who
created the queue, how many messages
are on the queue, who last wrote to it, and
who last read from it. (OS/2 has a coun-
terpart to this routine in its DosQuery-
QueueO system call.)

Items sent through the queue are two-
member structures. The first member is

Y

I ou can use
the message type field

to impose ordering
on the items in a queue.

a long variable that identifies the mes-
sage type. Ordinarily, Unix doesn't pay
attention to this field, so your program
can make whatever use of it you deem
appropriate.

However, a process reading items
from a queue can request the operating
system to return the first item whose
message type field is set to a particular
value. So you can use the message type
field to impose ordering on the items in a
queue.

An example would be to designate a
particular message type as being an "im-
mediate attention" message. In that way,
any process reading from the queue
could check for such messages and han-
dle their requests first.

The second member is simply an arbi-
trarily long array of characters. Your
program can impose any structure on a
message element it wishes.

The operating system doesn't care — it
just treats them as a string of bytes. You
send a message using the rasgsndO rou-
tine and receive a message using the
msgrcvO routine.

On the Menu

The source code for this month is a good
illustration of Unix semaphores and mes-
sage queues. (The source code is avail-
able through the usual sources; see page
5 for details.) It is the database simula-
tion portion of BYTE's Unix benchmark
programs and is composed of two source
code files. One is a server program that
builds a pair of message queues and a
controlling semaphore. The program
then launches a number of client pro-
cesses (using the Unix fork() routine).
The client processes begin making ran-
dom database requests (i.e., read a rec-
ord, write a record, or update a record) to
the server.

One message queue acts as the client-
request channel; the other is the server-
response channel. When a client sends a
request message, the program places its
process ID in the message type field (de-
scribed above). The process ID stays
with the request, so the server's respond-
ing message also carries the process ID
in the message type field. Consequently,
even though several clients are reading
from the same queue, each can extract
the appropriate response. ■

Rick Grehan is the director of the BYTE
Lab. He has a B. S. in physics and applied
mathematics and an M.S. in computer
science/mathematics from Memphis
State University. He can be reached on
BIX as "rick_g. "

Your questions and comments are wel-
come. Write to: Editor, BYTE, One
Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH
03458.

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See us at ®«Oim®lWFall "90 November12-16, 1990 / Las Vegas, Nevada

416 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 211 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 212)

CALL NOW FOR SPECIAL
INTRODUCTORY OFFER!

(713)782-2700

ma 4 Aid A/"

SYSTEM V RELEASE 4.0

Other companies currently may be offering UNIX System V
Release 4.0 to "qualified" software and hardware developers,
but ask them about a commercial release and it's quite a
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But right now,
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UHC UNIX System V is available as a complete package or
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Circle 358 on Reader Service Card

Intelligent
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supports RS-422

SmartLynx AT™ intelligent
4-port serial adapter for PC -AT
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For order info, call:
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PC-AT is a trademark of IBM Corporation.

Eight Serial

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Quatech's ES-lOO provides eight
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PC-AT is a trademark or
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RS-422/RS-485
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Micro Channel

RS-422/RS-485 asynchronous
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PC-AT. Micro Channel, and PS/2 are trade-
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Synchronous
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Boards for AT

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PC-AT and PC are registered
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Joystick i
Adapter
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IBM, Micro Channel, PS/2, PC-XT AT
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Communications
Data
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2 parallel,
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Quatech DSDP-402 for PC-AT
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Digital
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Single-slot Quatech PXB-721 for
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Connect three choices of data
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LabTecti Notebook is a trademark of
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Wave Form
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The WSB-100 Wave Form Synthe-
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EVTE

Product Showcase

BUYER'S MART

■ BYTE BITS

■ PRODUCT SPOTS

■ MICRO PRODUCT CENTER
r CATALOG SHOWCASE

ILLUSTRATION: JULIE E. MURPHREE © 1989

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 419

Catalog Showcase

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Packard Bell, Panasonic, Samsung,
Texas Instruments, Toshiba, Zenith

• A complete line of Boffin Laptops also
available

• Authorized Service Center: Epson,
Hyundai, Toshiba and Zenith

For free product catalog, call or write
Boffin Limited, Attn: Kari Wujek, 2500 W.
County Road 42, #5, Burnsville MN
55337.

612-894-0595
Circle 52 on Reader Service Card

420 BYTE • NOVEMBER 1990

Catalog Showcase

Advertisers: For more information
contact Ellen Perham at (603) 924-2598.

Intel Development Tools Lyben Computer Systems

Choosing the right architecture and devel-
opment support are two of the most impor-
tant decisions you face today. For success-
ful microcomputer development, Intel offers
you the total solution with the most up-to-
date and powerful tools available.

And we also offer you the easiest way to
buy. Our Development Tools Catalog lists
all our tools products in one guide. Call us at
1-800-874-6835, or FAX us at 503-696-4633
to get your free copy today.

Intel Corporation, Development Tools
Operation, 5200 NE Elam Young Parkway,
JF1-15, Hillsboro, OR 97124

1-800-874-6835 FAX 503-696-4633
Circle 181 on Reader Service Card

Computer Supplies and Accessories
at Discount Prices

Over 3500 Items
93% of Orders Shipped Same Day
Many Hard-to-Find Items
30-Day Return Policy

A unique catalog company with a
personal touch. Circle reader service to
receive a free 100-page Introductory
Catalog with special offers.

1-313-649-4500 FAX 313-649-2500

Circle 210 on Reader Service Card

Businessland Direct

The most convenient, quick and inexpensive
source for your complete business computer,
supply and accessory needs. The Businessland
Direct catalog features more than 1,000
products from 750 top manufacturers, with
factual and comparative product information
organized to help you make educated buying
decisions for your company.

Call and ask for the free Businessland
Direct catalog, and start getting computer
product pricing and selections designed
especially for business.

1 001 Ridder Park, San Jose CA 951 31

1-800-551-2468

Circle 58 on Reader Service Card

Dispensamatic Label

Affix All Types of Pressure Sensitive Labels
Fast and Efficiently

A complete selection of semi-automatic
and manual dispensers offer reliable
trouble-free affixing of all types of
computer printout or printed roil labels
without the need for technically trained
mechanics or skilled operators.

For full information: Dispensa-matic
Label Dispensers, 725 North 23rd Street,
St. Louis, MO 63103.

1-800-325-7303 or FAX 314-621-1602

Circle 115 on Reader Service Card

DATAWARE

GTCO

lUJAWAFE

-MaxiMarker' SugerLabet^

MaxiMarker® SuperLabels™ are the world's
first premium re-usable labels. Original and
creative, SuperLabels are unique because
they are permanent, yet infinitely changeable.

Information may be written on the
durable laminated stock, but then it can be
easily changed without affecting the
appearance or surface of the label.

MaxiMarker SuperLabels are available
for all types of magnetic media for office
and home. Send for information on
DATAWARE'S full line of products

1-800-426-4844 FAX 713-432-1385

Circle 102 on Reader Service Card

The Card Shop

The Memory Board Experts at The Card Shop
would like to introduce ourselves through
some of our better-known associates, for
example: PARITY PLUS by MEMREL, INTEL,
AST, DFI and the exciting new offering
everyone's talking about, WINDEX.

We invite you to call and talk to our
knowledgeable, courteous staff about any of
your memory board needs.

You'll also appreciate our Ten-Day,
Money-Back Free Trial, Generous Warranties
and Commitment to Excellence in all of the
product lines that we carry.

1-800-346-0055 FAX 602-948-8458

GTCO manufactures the following
digitizer lines: SketchMaster™, a high-
resolution, low-cost digitizer available in
both 12" x 12" and 12" x 18" sizes; DIGl-
PAD® Super L SERIES™, lightweight, high-
resolution digitizers ranging in size from
17" x 24" to 42" X 60"; and Macintizer
ADB™, a 12" X 12" digitizer compatible
with Macintosh SE and II computers.

1-800-344-4723

Circle 151 on Reader Service Card

National Instruments

Free 488-page full-color catalog describing
instrumentation hardware and software
products for personal computers and
workstations. Application software for data
analysis and presentation and for
collecting data using instruments and plug-
in boards. Features GPIB interfaces, data
acquisition and DSP boards, driver level
software, signal conditioning and VXI
controllers.

1-512-794-0100

Circle 341 on Reader Service Card

Circle 250 on Reader Service Card
NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 421

-The BUYER'S Mart-

A Directory of Products and Services

THE BUYER'S MART is a monthly advertising section whicti enables readers
to easily locate suppliers by product category. As a unique feature, eacti
BUYER'S MART ad includes a Reader Service number to assist interested
readers in requesting information from participating advertisers.
Effective January 1, 1990.

RATES: 1x-$590 3x-$550 6x-$525 12x-$475 24x-$450

Prepayment must accompany each insertion. VISA/MC Accepted.

AD FORMAT; Each ad will be designed and typeset by BYTE. Advertisers must

furnish typewritten copy. Ads can include headline (23 characters maximum),
descriptive text (250 characters is recommended, but up to 350 characters can
be accommodated), plus company name, address and telephone number. Do
not send logos or camera-ready artwork.

DEADLINE: Ad copy is due approximately 2 months prior to issue date. For ex-
ample: November issue closes on September 8. Send your copy and payment
to THE BUYER'S MART BYTE Magazine, 1 Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough,
NH 03458. For more information call Brian Higgins at 603-924-3754.

ACADEMIC COMPUTING

166 IVIHz RC

Prx)prietary technologies allow us to deliver our PC com-
patible vmrkstation years ahead of the industry. Take ad-
vantage of inexpensive PC software (vs. UNIX), and the
perfomnance our platform offers, to execute applications
previously run on minis and supers. We're offering the
first 5000 of our 1993 production units at wholesale pric-
ing. Educational and quantity discounts.

Eclectech, Inc.

Dept. 4142, RO. Box 12887, Research Triangle Park. NO 27709

Inquiry 701.

ACCESSORIES

RADIOACTIVE?

Plot it on your PC witti The RM-60 RADIAHON MONITOR
Serial or printer port. Detects: ALPHA • BETA • GAMMA • X-RAY.
MicroR, 1000 times the resolution of standard geiger counters.
Excellent for tracking RADON GAS. Rnd sources.
Plot: • Background • Cosmic Rays • Ciouds • Rxtds
Call/Write for PC MAGAZINE review. • TSR • GM TuIk
VISA/MASTER Phone orders. Not satisfied? Full refund,

Tel: (302) 655-3800

Aware Electronics Corp.

P.O. Box 4299, Wilmington, DE 19807 $149.50

Inquiry 702.

CUT RIBBON COSTS!

Re-ink your printer ribbons quicl<ly and easily. Do all
cartridge ribbons with just one inker! For crisp, black
professional prim since 1982. You can choose from 3
models: Manual E-Zee Inker — S39.50
Electric E-Zee Inker — $94.50
Ink Master (Electric) - $189.00
7000s of satisfied users. Money-bacl< guarantee.

BORG INDUSTRIES

525 MAIN ST.. JANESVILLE. lA 50647
1-800-553-2404 In lA: 319-987-297$

Inquiry 703.

ACCESSORIES

FOR 386, 286 & PC

Modem zmn Int. S 69 FaxMMem 480(V9600INT S139/259

640K PC Memory Cart S 29 2M Sr Memory Card S 99

MGP Grapliic cart+P/ports S 25 16 Bits 800x600 VGA Cart S 72

XT HD/00 ro Controller S 32 fll HD/FD Card MFM/RLL 588/119

XT I/O (F/S/P/G/C) S 29 /STIA) (S/P/G). 1SSS S19/25

XT-llK86-12M/8oart 565130 386SX-16M/Board $360

386-25MH2 M/Board 569ra5 386-33 64K Cache M/BoanI 5890
(Call fn Complete Prlte Ust 1 1 1 1

KOPEC INTERNATIONAL CO.

838 N. Glenville Dr., Richardson, TX 75081
Omer: 800^54-8008 Tech: gl4-907.1958 hat: Z14-907.1963

Inquiry 706.

HEWLETT PACKARD

Buy — Sell — Trade

Laser Jet II/IID Color Pro (7440)

Genuine HP 2 MegW Meg HP-75504
Desk Jet Draft Pro DXLJEXL

Rugged Writer Draftmaster l/ll

Electrostalio Plotters C1600 (D $ize)/C 1601 (E Size)
Science Accessories Corporation Sonic Digitizers
36" X 43" (2750) 60" X 72" (3175)

T. E. Dasher & Associates

4117 Second Ave. S., Birmingtiam. AL 35222
Phone: (205) 591-4747 Fax: (205) 591-1108
(800) 638-4833

Inquiry 707

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

NeuralWorks Explorer

NeuralWorks Explorer is a neural net tutorial
that provides the novice user with a method of
learning neural net theory as vrell as an environ-
ment in which to build practical real time applica-
tions such as targeted marketing, stock prediction,
pnxess control and more. PC and MAC. Price $199.
Visa/MC accepted.

NeuralWare, Inc.

412-787-8222

Inquiry 708.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The SoundBytes Toolkit®

Add unlimited HUMAN SPEECH to your PC pro-
gram in QuickBasic, C or any language. Fun &
exciting— Your program will talk thru standard PC
Speaker! Includes 24 more sound goodies, with
Source Code, and free 76-page Al Catalog. Specify
disk size preferred. $59.95 check or m.o. only
Overseas add $10 Postage, please. Guaranteed.

Thinking Software, inc.

46-16 65th Place, Wbodside, New York 11377

Inquiry 711.

BAR CODE

UBELING SOFTWARE

On EPSON, IBM, OKI dot matrix or LaserJet. Flexible
design on one easy screen. Any format/size. Up to 120
fields/label. 18 text sizes to 3"-readable at 100'. AIAG,
MIL-STD, 2 of 5, 128, UPC/EAN, Code 39- File Input &
Scanned logosfeymbols (PCX) — $279. Other programs
from $49. 30-day $$ back.

Worthington Data Solutions

417-A Ingalls St, Santa Cruz, CA 95050

(408) 458-9938 (800) 345-4220

BAR CODE READERS

For PC, XT, AT, & PS/2, Macintosh, and any RS-232
terminal. Acts like 2nd keyboard, bar codes read
as keyed data. With steel wand— S399. Top rated
in independent reviews. Works with DOS, Xenix,
Novell, Alloy, -ALL software. Lasers, magstripe, &
slot badge readers. 30-day SS back.

Worthington Data Solutions

417-A Ingalls St. Santa Cruz, CA 95060

(408) 458-9938 (800) 345-4220

COMPANION AND EXTENDER

Place a keyboard and monitor up to 600' from your CPU
witti EXTENDER and COMPANION products. Keep a
second Keyboard/Monitor at ttie CPU with COM-
PANION. Supports MDA, CGA, EGA, VGA, PS2. Uses
single cable.

Prices start at $149.00 for EXTENDER and $219.00 tor
COMPANION 25 ft. unit complete.

CYBEX CORPORATION
2800-H Bob Wallace, Huntsville, AL 35805
205-534-0011 International Fax »205-534-0010

Inquiry 704.

Software Engineer
Do Your Own Windows!

At last a LISP programming environment which takes advan-
tage of a GUI and protected mode on the PC, Software
Engineer'' for Windows'" 3,0 is a complete programming en-
vironment. It includes a LISP-aware text editor, allcwing guick,
easy and interactive Windows development. Software
Engineer supports DDE, GDI, the clipboard, dialog t>oxes
and menus. Software Engineer is priced at S249.95.

Raindrop Software Corporation

845 E, Arapaho, Suite 105, Richardson, Texas 75081
(214) 234-2611 Fax (214) 234-2674
See our ad on page 222

Inquiry 709.

PORTABLE READER

Battery-operated, handheld reader wit.h 64K static RAM,
2x16 LCD display, 32-key keyboard, Reai-Time-Ciock.
Wand or laser scanner. Program prompts and data
checking through its own keyboard. Easy data transfer
by RS-232 port or PC, PS/2 keyboard. Doubles as On-
Line Reader. 30-day SS back.

Worthington Data Solutions

417-A Ingalls Sl, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(408) 458-9938 (800) 345-4220

FREE CATALOG

A complete source for all your computer supplies — media,
paper, cables, furniture, software, ribbons, laser,
cleaning, FAX supplies, accessories & more!!
Order Bulk Disks, 100% Warranty. 25, Minimum

5.25" DS/DD 25« 3.5" DS/DD 45=
5.25" DS/HD 45« 3.5" DS/HD 99«

GAAN COMPUTER SUPPLIES

186 B East Sunnyoal^s Ave., Campbeii, CA 95008
Call (800) 523-1238

8Af,1 - 5PM, Mon-Fri, California time

Inquiry 705,
422 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

muLISP® 87 for MS-DOS

Fast, compact, efficient LISP programming environ-
ment. muLISP programs run 2 to 3 times faster &
take V2 to 1/3 the space of other LISPs. 450 Com-
mon LISP functions, multi-window editing & debug-
ging, flavors, graphics primitives, lessons & help,
demo programs, comprehensive manual.

Soft Warehouse, Inc.

3615 Harding Ave., Suite 505, Honolulu, HI 96816
(808) 734-5801

Inquiry 710.

PRINT BAR CODES/BIG TEXT
FROM YOUR PROGRAM

Add bar codes and big graphics characters to your pro-
gram. Print from ANY MS-DOS language. Bar codes:
UPC. EAN, 2 of 5, MSi, Code 39. Epson, Oki. IBM dot
matrix text up to '/;". LaserJet up to 2". Font cartridges
not required. S179-S239. 30-day S$ back.

Worthington Data Solutions

417-A Ingalls St., Santa Cruz. CA 95060

(408) 458-9938 (800) 345-4220

The BUYER'S Mart

BAR CODE

BAR CODE READERS

Keyboard emulation for PC/XT/AT & PS/2's, all
clones and any RS-232 Terminal. Transparent to
your operating system. Available with Steel
wands, Lasers, Slot & Magstripe Readers. Same
day shipping, 30-day money-back guarantee.
One-year warranty. Reseller discounts available.

AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS

2190 A Regal Parkway, Eubess, TX 76040
(800) 648-4452 (817) 571-9015 FAX (817) 685-6232

BAR CODE PRINTING SOFTWARE

• MS/PC DOS SYSTEMS

• 9 & 24 PIN DOT MATRIX

• H-P LASER JET/PLUS/SERIES II

• MENU-DRIVEN or MEMORY RESIDENT

• CODE 39, I 2/5, UPC A/E, EAN 8/13

• BIG TEXT & BAR CODE SOFTFONTS

AMERICAN MICROSYSTEMS

2190 A Regal Parkway, Eubess, TX 76040
(800) 648-4452 (817) 571-9015 FAX (817) 685-6232

BAR CODE

E IM V

Prints bar coded envelopes for fast delivery
E.,,easy to use, H... nationally listed by USPS, V. ..valw packed
EHV bar coded envelopes are quickly sorted and delivered by the US Post
Office, ftjstage discounted when over 200 bar coded pieces. • Use witti any
Word Processor or Mail Merge pacltage • ENV Balcfi, Popup and Mail Merge
versions on disk • Prm relum address, special messages and logos • for
HP Laserjas and EPSON LQ series primers. No new equipment required. Great
prtigram for any type and size business, ctiurch, club or association. OnSer
for MSDOS computers NOW S4955

Pike Creek Computer Company

2 Galaxy Dr., Newark DE 19711-2920
To Order: (302) 239-5113 Dealers call (800) SELL LOW

Inquiry 716.

PC BAR CODE SPECIALISTS

Bar code readers designed for fast, reliable, cost-
effective data entry. They emulate your l<eyboard,
so scanned data looks just like it was typed in!
Choose from stainless steel wand, laser gun, card
slot reader, and magnetic stripe scanner. Also,
powerful Bar Code and Text printing software. Great
warranty. Generous dealer discounts.

Seagull Scientific Systems

15127 N.E. 24th, Suite 333, Redmond, WA 98052
206-451-8966

CABLE CONVERTERS

Cable TV Converters

Attention Cable Viewers

Jerrald, Zenith, Oak, Hamlin,
Scientific Atlantic, Toccm,
and many others.

BEST PRICES!! • 1-800-826-7623

Visa, American Express. MasterCard
B&B INC., 4030 Beau-D-Rue Dr.. Eagan, MN 55122

Inquiry 721.

CAD

Electro-CAD $99

Designed specifically for schematics and double-sided board
layouts, Electro-CAD produces high quality tjoard images on
standard dot-matrix printers up to 11 by 15 inches. Virtually
instantaneous screen replete, rubber-banding, user definable
images, and many other features make Electro-CAD the best
tool for the job or your money back.

Call us for more information and fast delivery.

AEROUX Engineering

32 Vfest Anapamu Suite 228, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
(805) 962-9695

Inquiry 722.

BAR CODE PRINTING

Print barcodes from your custom program. ANSI C routines
generate and print Code39, 125, Codabar, UPC A/E, EAN 8^3
and supplements. Supports LaserJet, OKI. and EPSON and
custom printers. Works with UNIX/XENIX, MSDOS and
others. All SOURCE CODE included. No royalties. Single pat-
tern $85. All patterns $250.

infinity Computer Services, Inc.

P.O. Box 269, Coopersburg, PA 18036
Voice: 215-965-7699 BBS: 215-965-8028

Inquiry 712.

PC-Wand Bar Code Solutions

Bar codes are easy with a FULL line of readers &
printers. They plug & play with your existing systems,
most all makes of CPU/printerrterminai/software in your
office, store, truck, factory or warehouse. Our bar code
DOS programs print on matrix or laser printers. 30 day
refund, 1 year warranty.

International Technologies & Systems Corp.

655-K North Berry St., Brea, CA 92621
TEL: (714) 990-1880 FAX: f714) 990-2503

Inquiry 713.

Introducing ASP BAR CODE READERS

• Keyboard and RS232 readers distinguished tiy superiof wand -S395

• Portable reader doubles as fixed reader - $799

• Wand, bar code printing utility, cable and wanti holder included in
price.

• Reads all major bar codes

• Works with IBM compatible and non-standanl PCs. Eerminals.

• 5 years experience witb bar code solutiofis.
Dealer inquiries welcome.

PACIFIC MICROSYSTEMS

2560 9th Strsat, Suite 214M, Berkeley, CA 94710
(800) 242-5271 (415) 849-4147

Inquiry 714.

5-YR. WARRANTY AT PERCON

PERCON decoders are now covered by a five-
year limited warranty. That means you wont
spend one cent replacing your PERCON bar
code decoder for five full years. That's reliability
you can count on!

PERCON

2190 W. 11th Ave.. Eugene. OR 97402
Phone: (800) 873-7266 FAX: (503) 344-1399

See our ad on page 433.

BAR CODE READERS

Among the best and most widely used bar code
decoders. Reads all major codes (39, I 2/5, S 2/5,
UPC/EAN/JAN, CODABAR, MSI). Connects between
keyboard and system. IBM, PS/2, MAC, DECA/T com-
patible. OS & software independent. Same day ship.
2 Year Warranty (pen Incid).

Large Reseller Discounts

Solutions Engineering

4705 Langdrum Lane, Bethesda, MD 20815
(800) 635-6533 (301) 652-2738

Inquiry 717.

DATA INPUT DEVICES

Bar Code, Magnetic Stripe Readers & SmartCard Encoder/
Reader for microcomputers S terminals, including IBM PS/2
& others, DEC, Macintosh. AT&T, CT, Wyse, Wang. All readers
connect on the keyboard cable & are transparent to all soft-
ware. UPC & 39 print programs, magnetic encoders, & por-
table readers are also available.

TPS Electronics

4047 Transport, Palo Alto, CA 94303
415-856-6833 Telex 371-9097 TPS PLA
1-800-526-5920 FAX: 415-856-3843

Inquiry 718.

VARIANT MICROSYSTEMS

BAR CODE READERS DELIVER

WAND;U\SER/MAGNETiC CARD COhJNECTIVITY

• Keytxjard wedges (Internal/External) for IBM PC/XT/Ar, PS'2
and portables.

• RS232 wedges for WYSE, Link. Kimtron temiinaJs

• Bar code and label printing software

• Full two-year warranty

• 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee

• Extensive VAR/Dealer Discounts

3140 De La Cnjz BW., Suite 200/Saiita Clara. « 95054/(408) 980-1880
800-666-4 BAR FAX: (415) 623-1372

Inquiry 719.

BASIC CLIP MUSIC

300 Songs & Sounds + 180 Pg. Book

Besides being a fun jukebox, The ENTER-tainer teaches oos.
BASIC. BAT file & display tricks. Many exciting musical projects! It's
geared for beginners, yet teaches pros bow to run music behind
QB or C apps. Source code, no royalties. Money-back guarantee,
as* or two 5.25° dislQ. Needs BfiSKi 2.0 or later. $29,95 -f$350 s&h.
(Europe, Canada & Mexico s/h=S7, others=S11, 1st dass air) For
fast VISVMC orders - call:

(800) 727-4140 Price soon going up to S45!

POI Music Software. 1511 48th St.. Bouidei; CO 80303 (303)4404140

CAD-DRAWING VIEWSTATION

Allows non-CAD users to view drawings on PCs, print, plot,
attach personal notes, and tiyper-link between files. Ctiange
views and layers. Accurate entity representation. Easy to use.

• Simn VIEW/DWG for AutoCAD DWG files: $295

• SItlin VIEW/PLUS for DWG, DXF, HPGL and dBase; S395
Developers: asK about linkable Sirlin VIEW/LIB. Dealers
welcome.

Sirlin Computer Corporation

225 Lowell Road, Hudson, NH 03051
(603) 595-0420

Inquiry 723.

CAD/CAM

CAD/CAM Developer's Kit

Save months writing AutoCAD ADS or
standalone CAD/CAM applications!

(617) 628-5217
Building Block Software

PO Box 1373 Somervrlle, MA 02144

Inquiry 724.

CD-ROM

CD ROiUI PLAYERS
FOR AS LOW AS $499.00

Aide offers Cfiinon player, cable, card,
and DOS extensions bundled with a disc at
lowest prices. Aide carries a complete line of
CDROM titles. Write, call or fax for complete
product information.

ALDE PUBLISHING INC.

Box 1190, Glen Lake, MN 55345
800/727-9724 (Voc) 612/934-2824 (Fax)

Inquiry 725.

Largest Selection and Best Price

Microsoft Programmers Library & Drive S949.
Computer Library S695 • Public Domain S/W S49.
NEC PC or Mac Drive Kit $749 • Booiehelf-Best Price!

Drives from S499, Hundreds of titles from S29.

MCA/ISA/AMEX/COD, Money-back Guarantee.
Call or write for free 120-page catalog.

Bureau of Electronic Publishing

141 New Road, Parsippany, NJ 07054
800-828-4766
THE SOURCE FOR CD-ROM

Inquiry 715.

Inquiry 720.

Inquiry 726.

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE

423

The BUYER'S Mart

CD-ROM

CROSS ASSEMBLERS

DATA CONVERSION

CD ROM, Inc.

co-ROM, WORM. MAGNETO-OPTICAL DRIVES, CD-ROM DISCS
FOR IBM AND MAC, OPTICAL CONSULTING SERVICES
• PUBLISHING ■ DISTRIBUTION ■ NETWORKING
OUALITY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AT COMPETITIVE PRICES
FREE CATALOG

TEL. 303-231-9373

1667 COLE BLVD., SUITE 400 GOLDEN. CO 80401
FAX: 303-231-9581, CIS: 72007,544

VISA/MC/AMEX/GOV T. PCs

CROSS ASSEMBLERS/SIMULATORS

New unique full-function simulators for the 8096 and
80C196 controllers, featuring ALL MODES of interrupts,
plus the HSI, HSO, and A/D functions.
We also support ttie 8048/49, 8080/85, 8051/52, and Z80
controllers with excellent, reasonably priced Cross
Assemblers and Simulators.

Lear Com Company

2440 Kipting St., Ste. 206, Lakewood. CO 80215
(303) 232-2226 FAX: (303) 232-8721

MEDIA CONVERSION/DATA TRANSLATION

More than just a straight dump or ASCII transfer!
Word Processing, DBMS, and Spreadsheet data on Disks
or Tapes transferred directly into applications running on
Mainframes, Mints, Micros, Dedicated Word Processors,
Typesetters, and Electronic Publishing systems.
IBM PS/2 & Macintosh supported
#1 in the translation industry!

CompuData Translators, Inc.

3345 Wilshire Blvd,. Suite 407. Los Angeles, CA 90010
(213) 387-4477 1-800-825-8251

Inquiry 727

Inquiry 733.

Inquiry 739.

COMMUNICATIONS

AEG MICTRON RS-232/RS-422 Adapter

• Extends serial communications to 4000 ft.

• Bi-directional-full duplex operation

• Selectable DCE or DTE operation

• 3 LED communication activity indicators

• Tri-state of RS-422 Output controlled by RS-232C
RTS or DTR signal

• Optical Isolation Available Soon

Call 1-800-MICTRON Ext. 5587

CROSS ASSEMBLERS

Relocatable ^n. . .i-,.,-,-.^

Macros GUARANTEED,
PC Compatible SUPPOFITED

DEBUG SIMULATORS • DISASSEMBLERS
EPROM PROGRAMMERS

MICRO COMPUTER TOOLS CO.

Phone Toll Free (800) 443-0779

In CA (415) 825-4200
912 Hastings Dr., Concord, CA 94518

DBMS/COPY

CONVEFITS YOUR DATA INTO INFORMATION

New your lawrite star package can access any database.
DBMSCOPY can directly convert any database or spreadsheet file
(ORACLE. PARADOX. dBASE. LC3TUS etc.) into any Stat package
file (SAS. SPSS. SYSTAT. eto) and vice versa. The PLUS version
alkMS sorts, selections, and recalculations. S195. 3r><jay guaranteei
VISA/MC/AK«EX/PO/COD. Call for free limited version.

CONCEPTUAL SOFTWARE INC.

P.O. Box 56627. Houston. TX 77256
(713) 667-4222 FAX: (713) 667-3FAX

1-800-STATWOW

Inquiry 728.

Inquiry 734.

Inquiry 740.

PC SDL.C SUPPORT

Use Sangoma hardware and software to provide
a cost effective, robust and easy to use SDLC link
from MS-DOS, XENIX, AIX, PICK, PC-MOS, etc.

All real time communication functions performed
by intelligent co-processor card.

X.25 support also available.
Sangoma Technologies inc.

(416) 474-1990

7170 Warden Avenue 112, Marfdiam. Ontario. Canada L3R 8B2

Cross-Assemblers
Simulators
Disassemblers
PseudoCorp

See our ad on page 451.

WE'LL DO IT BETTER . . .
FOR LESS!

Conversion, Duplication, Any Format
FREE TEST • SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

Plus, the Personal Touch: Ask Questions an(j
well explain it to you in simple English!!!

DATACOPY SERVICE

PC Box 820214. Dallas. TX 75382
1-800-969-DATA 214-272-7751

Inquiry 729.

Inquiry 735.

Inquiry 741.

COMPUTER INSURANCE

CROSS COMPILERS

INSURES YOUR COMPUTER

SAFEWARE provides full replacement of hardware,
media and purchased software. As little as $49 a
year provides comprehensive coverage. Blanket
coverage: no list of equipment needed. One call
does it all. Call 8 am-10 pm ET. (Sat. 9 to 5)

TOLL FREE 1-800-848-3469

(Local 614-262-0559)

SAFEWARE, The Insurance Agency Inc.

Inquiry 730.

COMPUTER UPGRADE

Focus on Performance

Fast, 6.000 lines per minute. 06805 Code Development
System, first C compiler targeted to 6805 family. Built-in macro
cross assembler, optimizing C compiler, integrated editor and
development shell. MS-DOS with Si or HEX output.
Free next business day shipping in N. America.

Call now! (519) 888-6911

Byte Craft Limited

421 King St. N.. Waterloo. Ontario N2J 4E4 CAN

Inquiry 736.

CROSS DISASSEMBLERS

^ America^ Leaders In Data Conversion ->

DISK m DISK ' TAPE m DISK
OPTICAL SCANNING
WE CONVERT MORE FORMATS THAN ANYONE ELSE!!!

IBM. DEC, tMVVMS, APPLE, WANG, XEROX, NBI, LANIER,
OPT, UNIX, Wordpertect. .
QUICK— RELIABLE— HIGHEST QUALITY

NATIONAL DATA CONVERSION INSTITUTE

5 East 16th Str. NY. NY 10003 (212) 463-7511

Inquiry 742.

DATA RECOVERY

THE COMPLETE XT UPGRADE

The K-311 Upgrade Kit converts your XT to full 32-bit, 20MHz
80386 CPU and high speed disk performance. The K-311 Kit
includes 20MHz 80386 w/IMb RAM, 16-bit Adaptec 1:1 con-
troller. 63Mb 28Ms Mitsubishi disk drive, choice of 1.2 or
1.4Mb diskette drive, Key Tronic 101 Plus keyboard, 2(X1 W
PS, new drive cables. Matches or exceeds the performance
of a new system but at far less cost. Top quality, easy installa-
tion, 1 year warranty. $1 ,795

5G Corporation

4131 Spicewood Springs Road A-4. Austin TX 78759
800-333-4131 512-345-9843 Fax 512-345-9575

Inquiry 731.

CROSS ASSEMBLERS

PROFESSIONAL PC SOFTWARE

• CROSS-DISASSEMBLERS

^atylic. AiJtom=;ic Labfll Generation

• CROSS-ASSEMBLERS

Relocatable, .Macro, un^er^ Linker - Librarian

• C CROSS COMPILERS

• SOURCE TRANSLATION UTILITIES

Support for Intel. Motorola. Zilog. Tl. RCA
Order Today: (408) 773-8465

PO Box 61929. Sunnyvale. CA 94086

LOGISOFT

FSX: (408) 773-8466

Inquiry 737

DATA CONVERSION

CRASHED?

Your valuable data can be recovered!

• 95% success rale • Fast turnaround
• Servicing Novell, DOS, Macintosh, Unix, Xenix.
OS/2. Bernoulli and mofe!

ONTRACK DATA RECOVERY, INC.

Keeping you in business is our business.
1-8O0-872-2599

Inquiry 743.

DATA/DISK CONVERSION

CROSS ASSEIMBLERS

Universal Linker, Librarian
Targets for 36 Microprocessors

Hosts: PC/MS-DOS, micro VAX, VAX 8000

ENERTEC, INC.

BOX 1312, 811 W. Fifth St.
Lansdale, PA 19446
Tel: 215-362-0966 Fax: 215-362-2404

Inquiry 732.
424 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

CONVEFrriNG YOUR DISKETTES?
ENTRUST THEM TO US!

2500 Word Processor & Compuler formats. 3^,^". 5V,". 8"
Disks. Mag Tapes. Mag CarrJs. Canricjges & Cassenes. Custom
Conversions. Programming & Applications Dewlopment
DISK DUPLICATION
OCR SCANNING SERVICES
HIGH VOLUME LASER PRINTING
Call us for Quality. Best Prices and Quickest Turnaround Time.

COMPANY COMPENDIA, INC., 55 E. Wtesfiington St..
#237. Cnicago. IL 60602 TEL: 312^19-8771 FAX: 312^19-1390

Inquiry 738.

DISK CONVERSIONS

Media transfer to or from; IBM, Xerox. DEC, VJang,
Unier, OFT, Micorr, NBI, CT, Exxon, WRDPLEX
also WP, WS, MSMRD, DW4, MM, Samna, DEC
DX, MAS 11, Xerox-Writer, ASCII.

FREE TEST CONVERSION

CONVERSION SPECIALISTS

531 Main St.. Ste. 835. El Segundo, CA 90245
(213) 545-6551 (213) 322-6319

Inquiry 744.

The BUYER'S Mart

DATA/DISK CONVERSION

THE #1 CHOICE

in disk & tape conversion

for many leading corporations, government agencies,
law firms, and companies in every industry— worf divide.
Free test • Satisfaction guaranteed

Graphics Unlimited Inc.

3000 Second St. North, Minneapolis. MN 55411
(612) 588-7571 or (612) 520-2345
FAX: (612) 588-8783

Inquiry 745.

QUALITY CONVERSIONS

to or from vinualiy

ANY TAPE OR DISK FORMAT!

Horan Data Services converts over 2000 formats incl.
9-track tape, 3480 Cartridge and 8", 5Va" or ZVz" disk-
ettes. All densities & most operating systems supported.
Formats include EBCDIC, ASCII, databases, spread-
sheets, and dedicated or PC word processors.

Call 1 -800-677-8885

Hours 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM Eastern Time
817 Main Street. Third Floor. Cincinnati OH 45202

Inquiry 746.

IBM PC «T0« HP FILE COPY

FASTER EASIER TO USE

Update version uses windows: Call for free demo! IBM
PC <to> HP File Copy allows IBM PCs, PS/2,
compatibles to interchange files with Hewlett-
Packard Series 70, 80, 200, 300, 1000, 9000s.

Oswego Software

Box 310 708/554-3567
Oswego, IL 60543 FAX 708/554-3573

Inquiry 747

CONVERSION SERVICES

Convert any 9-track magnetic tape to or from over
2000 formats including 3V2, S'A", 8" disk formats &
word processors. Disk-to-disk conversions also
available. Call for more info Introducing OCR Scan-
ning Services.

PIvar Computing Services, Inc.

165 Arlington Hgts. Rd., Dept. #B
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 (800) Convert

DATABASE

INRO-TRAK

INFOTRAK is a new menu-driven datatiase/cataloguer pro-
gram for the professional and the beginner. Ideal for business,
home inventory, collections (books, stamps, coins, artworks,
etc.), investments etc. Features include SEARCH, add/delete
lines, edit data, create custom formats, PRINT and more. (IBM
XT, AT and compatibles. DOS 2.0 & up)

Only S59, S3 shipping/handling (check or money order only)

JA-DAL TECHNOLOGIES

P.O. Box 611, Yaphank, NY 11980
(NY res, add 7.5% tax)

Inquiry 748.

DATABASE MGMT SYSTEMS

DBASE COMPATIBLE HYPERMEDIA

CoNET: AN INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH HYPERMEDIA
SYSTEM. Provides database records, queries, hypertext
editor, graphics, procedures — each object with buttons and
labelled links to any object of any type. 100,000 objects +
2 million links per knowledge base in a dBASE compatible
database — an open system. Usable interactively or program-
mable for applications. S350.

CoNET Systems

5833 Humblebee Road, Columbia, Maryland, 21045
(301) 997-4330

Inquiry 749.

DATABASE MGMT SYSTEMS

SAVE TIME & MONEY!

OCEL0T2— THE SQU is a stand-alone database
engine with a complete DB2 compatible SOL interface
for developers who use BASIC, C, PASCAL, or COBOL.

• packs the full power of SQL into a 640KB PC;

• requires only 320KB RAM for program development;
" outperforms the rest!

For IBM and clones: S195 & up. Free info.

OCELOT COMPUTER SERVICES INa

#1502, 10025 • 106 Street, Edmonton. AB, Canada, T5J 1G7
(403) 421-4167

Inquiry 750.

dBASE file access from C

Code Base 4 is a library of G routines which
gives complete dBASE or Clipper func-
tionality and file compatibility. Use DOS,
Unix, OS/2 or MS Windows.
$295 with Source! FREE DEMO

Sequiter Software Inc.
Call (403) 448-0313 Fax (403) 448-0315

See our ad on page 244.

Inquiry 751.

DISASSEMBLERS

80x86 .EXE/.COM to .ASM

• Accurately reconstruct, study & modify [64K+] programs with
a minimum of input or editing of output.

• Assembly language output is MASM S-x-compalible.

• Exhaustive flow-trace distinguishes code from data.

• Best formats for each. Commented BIOS calls/DOS func-
tions. SEGMENT/PROCtother vital pseudoops.

PC-DISnDATa (5V4" disk & manual) $165
PRO/AM SOFTWARE

220 Cardigan Road, Centerville, OH 45459

(513) 435-4480 (9 A.M.-5 PM. EST M-F)

Inquiry 752.

NO Source? ... NO Problem
for DISIDOC PROFESSIONAL

Automatically Disassembles EXE, COM, BIN, SYS, PGM files
and ROM or RAM memory with interactive ability to change
code, data or comments online. Disassembles 8086 to 80486
with no file size restrictions. Buiit in utility program EXE Un-
packer, for unpacking packed files and BIO's Admission for
disassembling BIOS's are included.

To order call (800) 336-1961 or info (203) 953-0236
Or write: RJSWANTEK INC.

178 Brookside Rd., Newington, CT 06111

• Only $24955 MC/VISA accepted

Inquiry 753.

DISK DRIVES

B EST BUY!!!

HD Kits for AT: Drive, Controller, Rails & Cables

40MB - MFM - $339

65MB - RLL - 459

80MB - MFM - 689

150MB - ESDI - 1099

NEW, ONE YEAR WARRANTY

jb TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

5105 Maureen Lane, Moorpark. CA 93021

(805) 529-0908 Fax (805) 529-7712
Inquiry 754.

PS/2 DRIVES FOR PCs ATs

CompatiKit/PC S279

CompatiKit/AT $219

Built-in floppy controllers— no problem.
Supports multiple drives and formats. Lets your
computer use IBM PS/2 1.4M diskettes plus morel
Call for further information or to place an order

VISA/MaCOD/CH£CK.

Micro Solutions Computer Products

132 W Lincoln Hwy . DeK^b. IL 60115 815/756-3411
See our ad on page 318.

Inquiry 755.

DOCUMENT CONVERSIONS

Doc-to-Doc

Quickly and cleanly convert your documents to and from
WordPerfect, MICROSOFT WORD. WordStar,
MultiMate, ASCII, Tandy, DeskMate Text, Lotus 1-2-3,
Enable, Wang and DisplayWrite. Retain special at-
tributes and formatting. Doc-to-Doc gives you profes-
sional quality conversions at a consumer price — S99.

The MCS Group

2465 W. Chicago St., Rapid City, SD 57702
(605) 341-2166

Inquiry 756.

DOS SHELL

Multitasking for DOS

MultiDos Plus— the fastest multitasking DOS shell.

• Fully DOS compatible

• Tailored for real-time operation

• 4 years of proven reliability with thousands
installed

• 30-day money back guarantee ($15 restocking fee)

Call our BBS for free demo (508) 650-9552
Complete software package only $99 + $2 S&H

Nanosoft Inc.

13 Westfield Road. Natick, MA 01760
(800) 678-2141 (508) 651-0091 FAX: (508) 655-8860

Inquiry 757.

EDUCATION

B.S. & M.S. In COMPUTER SCtENCE

The American Institute for Computer Sciences offers an in-
depth correspondence program to earn your Bachelor of
Science and Master of Science degrees in Computer Science
at home. B.S. subjects covered are: MS/DOS, BASIC,
PASCAL, C. Data File Processing, Data Structures &
Operating systems. M.S. program includes subjects in Soft-
ware Engineering and Artificial Intelligence.

AMERI(»N INST, for COMPUTER SCIENCES

2101-BY Magnolia Aw. South, Ste. 200, Birmingham, AL 35205
800-767-2427 205-323-6191

Inquiry 758.

ENTERTAINMENT

WHERE ADULTS COME TO PLAY!
ACCESS LA! BBS

• Designed for Adult modem users • Low cost local access
numtjers covering 850 cities! • Live online chat with other
users! • Large software file library! • "Bulletin board" -style
Forums!' Interactive online games! • Matchmaker dating
database! • And much, much more. 24 hours a day!
We also can provide your company with national BBS ser-
vices. Call (818) 358-0936 for details!

Information and Signup By Modem
(818) 358-6968 [3/12/24 Baud, 8/N/l, Must be c^er 18]
Voice Information (818) 357-9570

Inquiry 759.

^86 SPYS

.386 SPYS, the energy, excitement and superior graphics
you've been looking for in an animated arcade game. Writ-
ten specifically for PC's with a 386/386SX processor, Hi Res
EGA graphics, 1 meg of memory and a hard disk. You will
find incredible detail and action throughout. Try a demo disk
now for Sa95 or the full game for S4995l Include S3 S&H.

GENKI SOFTWARE CORPORATION

"Imagination powered by the .386"

(800) 673-9038 Mastercard or Visa (301) 997-6333
P.O. Box 2563. Columbia, MD 21045

Inquiry 760.

NEMESIS^ Go Master®

Go. a game of strategic elegance, has been a way of life in
the Orient for over four thousand years. Many consider Go
to be the secret of the Japanese businessman's success.
"While chess is a game of war, Go is a game of market share"
[President of Nikko Hotels].

Chaos Manor 1990 User's Choice Award

BYTE 4/90, p.62

Toyogo, Inc. The Leader in computer Go.

PO Box F, Dept. Y, Kaneohe, HI 96744
(808) 254-1166 or 1-800-TOYOGO-9

Inquiry 761.

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 425

The BUYER'S Mart

FLOW CHARTS

WINDOWS FLOWCHARTER $129

RFFlow 2.0 is a professional drawing tool for
flowcharts & org charts. Requires Microsoft Win-
dows 3.0. 100 shapes auto adjust in size. Diagonal
lines and curves. Auto line routing and re-routing.
Click on a shape to bring up a sub-chart. Move
charts to other apps. via the Clipboard. Call for free
trial disk.

RFF ELECTRONICS

1053 Banyan Court, Loveland. CO 80538
Phone: (303) 663-5767 FAX: (303) 669-4889

Inquiry 762.

FRAME GRABBER

HANDWRITING RECOGNIZER

a Handwriting Recognizer

Awd using your keyboard for heavy typing, for tfie same reason you prefer
a mouse to cursor-arrows. Especialty efficient for shorttiand, starxjard or
personalized. Any number of users can create their mm symbol sets, ar-
bitrary symbols in each. Every symbol may represent any text— a single let-
ter, mni. complete sentence. codetJ graphic symbol for CAD, etc. A
signature can become a password. Requires DOS. s digitizing tablet wtth
SummasKeKSi/BP emulation + stylus. Output standard text file. For a single
PC (NOT ropy proieciecf): t195. A few hours evaluation: $19, refundable.
Networfcing available. Soon tor MAC. Dealer inquiries welcome.

Nybble Engineering

14 Allyat Hanoar at., 67450 tel Aviv, Israel
Tel. 972-3-262-881

Inquiry 768.

HARD DRIVE REPAIR

HARDWARE

FREE INTERFACE CATALOG

Interfaces for IBM compatibles. Digital I/O
(8255) and Analog input 8 bit resolution
(0-255). Control relays, motors, ligtits, measure
temperature, voltage. Sample interconnect
circuits, BASIC programs, and I/O map are
included.

John Bell Engineering, Inc.

400 Oxford Way, Belmont, CA 94002
(415) 592.8411 9am to 4pm Pacific Time

Inquiry 774.

FRAME GRABBERS

Publistiers' VGA 256 Grey scales $655.00
Publishers' Color 256 colors $830.00

VGA-toA/ideo /Wapter
VGA-TV GE/0 Genlock overlay $830.00
(Overlay text and graphics on live video
and record it on a VCR)
Manufactured in the U.S.A.
3 Year Manufacturers Warranty
THE KRUEGER COI\/IPANY

(800) 245-2235 (602) 820-5330

Inquiry 763.

GRAPHICS 1

R Coupon
m Off

Beat the cost of replacementi

10% Off n E B A ■

oisrauni n c r* A I

HARD DISC and FLOPPY DRIVES

FULL WARRANTY PROTECTION

Fast Turnaround • Data Recovery

jb TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

5105 Maureen Lane. Moorpark, CA 93021

(805) 529-0908

Fax (805) 529-7712

Inquiry 769.

LATEST AWARD BIOS

User definable hard drives, 101/102 keyboard
and 3.5" 1.44Mb floppy support are now
available in Award BIOS Ver 3.1 for the IBM AT,
286 and 386 compatibles.

KOMPUTERWERK, INC.

851 Parkview Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15215
Orders: 800-423-3400
Tech: (412) 782-0384

Inquiry 775.

PCXSLIDE

is an independent .PCX forma! slide show Software everytxxjy
needs. From CGA-EGA to SVGA in 2 through 256 colors or grey
scales. User has up to 800x600x256 maximum resolutiofi with ap-
propriate graphic board and monitor. Best graphic preserrtalion for
the nineties. Before importing, manipulating or printing, check pic-
tures with PCXSUDE. Onfy S24. OEM/Bundled package negotiable.
Advise if 5.25" or 35" and send money order/certified check. For
IBM PC/PS or true compatibles. EGAAfljA.

DATALISION Inc.

9 East 45th Street, New York, NY 10017
(212) 309-6888 FAX (201) 992-0302

Inquiry 764.

HARD DISC DRIVES

Sales • EXCHANGE • Repair
Trade in your defective drive for NEW, witti FULL WARRANTY!
TREMENDOUS SAVINGS!
TECHNICAL SUPPORT OF COURSE!
Large Inventory Hard and Floppy Drives

jb TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

5105 Maureen Lane, Moorpark, CA 93021
(805) 529-0908 Fax (805) 529-7712

Inquiry 770.

APPLE" II & MACINTOSH"

» Systems » Peripherals » Parts

Ujok for us at

COMDEX

LAS VEGAS
(ttie Sands
ConventfM Centn)
Bootti #N2591

Call tor a CATALOG
USA i Canada:

800-274-5343

IfTtemaSonal: 617.891.6851
Fax: 617-891-3556

Save
up to
50%
on Mac
CPUs.

Pre-Owned Electronics, Inc.

30 Clematis Avenue • Waltham, MA 02154

Inquiry 776.

EGAD Screen Print

Prints contents of VGA, EGA, CGA displays on variety
of dot-matrix and laser printers. Prints in gray tones
or color Crop box lets you print any region of the
screen. Enlarge graphics 1 to 4 times (reduction too).
Setup program for picldng printer colors, etc. $35.00
Postpaid. Call or write for free catalog.

LINDLEY SYSTEMS

4257 Berwick Place, Woodbridge, VA 22192-5119

(703) 590-8890

Inquiry 765.

IMAGE CAPTURE BOARD

Capture images from any VCR or Camcorder. Resolution up
to 512 X 480 pixels: 65536 colors or 256 shades of grey. Im-
ages saved in GIF, PCX, TIFF formats and more. For XT/AT/
PS2. Includes user friendly software and user's guide. One
year warranty. VGA required. Can capture from live video
(eliminales need for expensive digital video). Ideal for Desktop
publishing, CAD, Animation, and Pictorial Databases.

$749 VISA/MC/AMEX/C.O.D.

PEGA Micrographics

P.O. Box 713, Westerville, OH 43081, (614) 885-1007

1-800-477-PEGA

Inquiry 766.

DATA RECOVERY

SALES of new, reman ufactured and
removable disk drives

FULL TECHNICAL SUPPORT

ROTATING MEMORY SERVICE

1506 Deli Avenue, Campbell, CA 95008

(408) 370-3113

Inquiry 771.

HARD DRIVE ASSISTANCE

HAVING HARD DRIVE PROBLEMS?
NEED TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE?
CALL THE EXPERTS AT H&W micro labs

1-800-235-0221 ext911

HAVE YOUR MC VISA OR AMEX READY

Inquiry 772.

ROM BIOS UPGRADES

Fn your IBM ot Campatime • A Nm BIOS Upgrade Will:

• Support Window 31S • Support 360K, 720K. t.2 MB S 1.44 MB Floppy
Oriws • User Oefined tianj time types • Suppo<ts VGA • & Netware
ixmpatae • Expantled liaiil drr« a* • EiiliariceP imB teylMartl • «)%
IBM compatipte • Complete documentation • Latest «rsion • Complete set
up in ROM.

Deilw/DltlTtbalor Inqnirtet VMconM MhortzBd mi Softnre toe ditL

800-800-BIOS Fax 508-683-1630

800-800-2467 508-686-6468

Unicore Software

599 Canal Street. Lawrence, MA 01840

See ocr aa or: cage 108

Inquiry 777.

HARDWARE/COMPUTERS

What do you look for in board computers?

Small size? Low power? High level language? TDS9092 has LCD
and keytward interfaces, on-board multitasking, interrupts, dual serial
ports. RAM, EEPROM, I^C bus and 35 I/O lines. Optional preci-
sion A-D and battery-backed RAM. A data togger can run 12 months
on a small battery. Ponh. the language of choice for embedded
systems mixes with assembler. Used world-wide for machine con-
trol, data logging, robotics and automation.
Call or fax for full details. 30-day Sale or Return. Only S219 (25qty)

Saelig Company

1193 Moseley Rd.. Victor, NY 14564
Phone (716) 425-3753 Fax (716) 425-3835

Inquiry 778.

HARDWARE

Affordable Stereoscopic 3D

Finally, an affordable stereoscopic 3D system for
EGA/VGA equipped PC's or compatibles.
POSTER EOSCOPE's interface board and glasses, only
$350. Software Development System, with high speed
graphics functions, animation and menulng, $250. OEM
applications include medicaJ imaging and statistical data
presentation. Hobbyist inquiries welcome.

Vision Research Graphics, Inc.

99 Madbury Road, Durham, NH 03824
(603) 868-2270 FAX (603) 868-1352

Inquiry 767.
426 BYTE- NOVEMBER

INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SINGLE BOARD COMPUTER

Has optfmum features for monitor + control applications:
16 Chan AJD • 4 RS232/422 Ports • 48 Prog I/O Lines

• 8 Opto INs • 8 HiDrive OUTs • 4 Timers • Watcfidog

• 104K Memory • 5.25 x 80 Options: Resident FORTH
OS witfl Target Compiler, Editor, Assembler, + Auto
Load/Start: 5 MHz 8085 • 4 Cfian D/A • Battery Backed
Clock/RAM • Networking • PC Support.

E-PAC 1000+ $249.00 E.PAC 2000+ $449.00

EMAC INC.

PO Box 2042. Carbondale IL 62902 (618) 529-4525

Inquiry 773.

EMBEDDED SYSTEMS COMPUTERS

SC/FOX'PCS (Parallel Coprocessor System) and PCS32 are

PC/XT/AT plug-in boards, 16 and 32bil. 15 MIPS average. 50 MIPS
burst. PCS uses the Harris RTX 2000"'16-brt real-time CPU with
1-cy^ muftiplier, 14 prioritized interrupts, 3 limerteountefs, &<;tiannel
I/O bus. PCS32 uses ihe new SC32 32-brt Ftjrih CPU.
SC/FOX SBC (Single Board Computer) is an 18 MIPS average,
60 MIPS burst, Eurocan3-size FTTX 2000 stand-alone computer.
SC/FOX SCSI I/O Plug-on board for PCS or SBC with SCSI, flop-
py, 56K-baud serial, 1&-bil parallel ports, and software drivers.
ftKth 9/w included. C also available Ideal for embedded reaHime
control, data acquisition, robotics, and signal processing.

SILICON COMPOSERS INC. (415) 322-8763

208 California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306

Inquiry 779.

The BUYER'S Mart

HARDWARE/COPROCESSOR

LAPTOP COMPUTERS

NEURAL NETWORKS

DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSOR

DSP products for the IBM PC/XT/AT. Our TMS320C25
based Model 250, with extensive software, features 250
Khz multi-channel A/D and D/A, up to 192 Kwords RAM,
very high throughput to PC RAM and disk, and is priced
competitively with traditional Analog 10 boards.
Call us about your applications.

DALANCO SPRY

89 Westland Ave., Rochester, NY 14618
(716) 473-3610

New Laptop Products for:

Palmtops: Atari Portfolio, Poquet
Notebooks: Compaq LTE, NEC-UL, Tandy 100/102,
Tandy 1100, TI-M12, Toshiba SE/XE, Zenith-MS
PC-Laptops: All major brands and models

Accessories: Auto Adapters, Batteries, Carry Cases, Keypads
Peripherals: Portable Printers, Hard Disks, 360K/1.2M Drives,
Keyboard Covers, Modems, Barcode Wands, Laptop Software, etc
For a free newsletter & catalogue, please call or write:

ULTRASOFT INNOVATIONS INC.

1 Transborder Drive. PO Box 247, Champlain, NY 12919
Tel: (514) 4S7-9293 Fax: (514) 487-9295 9-6 EST

Canadian Orders 4 Dealer Inquiries are Welcome

Inquiry 780.

Inquiry 786.

BrainMaker:

"The most fascinating computer soft-
ware I've ever seen... learn about this
stuff." John Dvorak, PC Mag. Pre(jicts stocks,
bon(Js, sales, inventories. Comprehensive
cJocumentation. Menus. Only $195!
Certified by Intel and Micro Devices

Free Brochure: 916/477-7481
California Scientific Software

Inquiry 792.

LAPTOP PERIPHERALS

OPTICAL DISK

DSP32C PC/AT COPROCESSOR BOARD

25 MFLOP 32 bit Floating point DSP:

• High speed NUMERICS and GRAPHICS

• 640K DUAL PORTED on board memory

• 32 bit parallel and serial 10 headers

• 15 ms 1024 point FFT from high level C

• Assembler, monitor, and math libraries

Base board and ALL software S950, 640K S300

SYMMETRIC RESEARCH

15 Central Way #9. Kirkland, WA 98033
(206) 828-6560

Inquiry 781.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT!

LAPTOP BACKLIGHTS

Factory Installed • 90-Day Warranty
Toshiba, Amstrad, Sanyo, DG,
Kaypro, IBM, HP, etc. $295
The Portable Peripherals People

Axonix Corporation

(801) 466-9797

Inquiry 787.

ODIN & VOICE
IMAGING SYSTEMS

ARCHIVING & RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS
Utilizing WORM optical disk storage, ODIN runs on Unix
worl(stations. VOICE runs on MS-DOS personal com-
puters. Will scan documents up to "E" size. Proven
system. Available now!

Telephone: 1-800-843-9377

Indus MIS, Inc.

340 S. Oak St.. West Salem, Wl 54669

Inquiry 793.

PROGRAMMERS' TOOLS

STOCK-MASTER 4.0

Commercial grade Inventory management
software at micro prices.

• Supports all 12 • Stock Status Reporting
transaction types • Activity History Analysis

• Trend Analysis • Bill of Materials

• Quality Control • Purchase Order W/riting

• Multiple ijDcations • Order Entry

• Purchase Order Tracking • Material Requirements

• Open Order Reporting • On Line Inquiry

• Serial/Lot M Tracking

Applied Micro Business Systems, Inc.

177-F Riverside Ave-. Newport Baach, CA 92663 714-759-0582

Inquiry 782.

TOSHIBA LAPTOP ENHANCEMENTS

FAX/MODEMS: 9600/2400 bps, software, acoustic port
MODEMS, INTERNAL: 2400 bps. acoustic or serial port
MODEM, DEDICATED: 2400 bps (T1200, T1600, T3200SX)
SERIAL to CARDS: RS232, RS422, SCSI, HPIL, Barcode
BATTERY PACKS: 12V external battery + vehicle adapter

Contact us for more information:

PRODUCT R&D Corporation (Caiif).

805/546-9713, Fax: 805/546-9716

Inquiry 788.

HYPERINTERFACE'' II

Menu Creator^ — An interactive WYSIWYG editor to
generate a menu-driven user interface for your software.
Screen Creator™ — An interactive WYSIWYG edtor for
quick and easy screen design and a screen database
manager for your software. Advanced Library — Ex-
tended capability for data entry for your programs. FOR-
TRAN, Pascal, C, BASIC supported.

Avanpro Corp.

P.O. Box 969. Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
(213) 454-3866

Inquiry 794.

MEMORY BOARDS

dFELLER Inventory

Business inventory programs written in mod^ble dBASE
source code.

dFELLER Inventory $150.00
Requires dBASE II or III. PC-DOS/CPIvt
dFELLER Plus $200.00
with History and Purchase Orders
Requires dBASE III or dBASE III Plus (For Stockrooms)

Feller Associates

550 CR PPA, Route 3, Ishpeming, Ml 49849
(906) 486-6024

Inquiry 783.

S.SX MEMORY UPGRADES

IBM PS/2

$230
$520

2MB module— Model 50, 70
2-8MB expan. bds^Model 55, 70
COMPAQ

4MB module— DESKPRO 386/20E, 25, S S460
4MB expan. brd— DESKPRO 386/20E, 25, S $540
8MB single slot module— SYSTEMPRO $1600
H P LASER JET

2MB upgrades $229

1.800-688-8993 5 YR. WARRANTY

Inquiry 789.

TLIB"' 5.0 Version Control

"TLIB^ Is a great system" — PC Tech Journal 3/88.
Full-featured configuration mgmt for software profes-
sionals. All versions of your code instantly available, \fery
compact, only changes are stored. Check-in/out locks,
revision merge, branching, more. Mainframe deltas for
Pansophic ADR, IBM, Unisys. DOS S139 (OS/2 S195).
5-station LAN S419 (OS/2 S595)

BURTON SYSTEMS SOFTWARE

PO. Box 4156, Gary. NC 27519 (919) 233-8128

Inquiry 795.

LANS

MEMORY CHIPS

The $25 Network

Try the 1st truly low-cost LAN

• Connect 2 or 3 PCs. XTs, ATs

• Uses serial ports and &-wire cable

• Runs at 115K baud

• Runs in background, totally transparent

• Share any device, any file, any time

• Needs only 14K of RAM

Skeptical? We make believers!

Information Modes

P.O. Drawer F, Denton, TX 76202
817-387-3339 Orders 800-628-7992

Inquiry 784.

PRICE MEETING & BEATING!

DRAMS

SIMMS/SIPPS

64K X 1-12,10

256K X 9-10.80.70,60

64K X 4-eO

IMEG X 8-10,80,70

256K X 1-15,12,10,80,70,60

IMEG X 9.10,80,70,60

256K X 4-80

4MEG X 8-80

1MEG X 1-10,80.70,60

4MEG X 5-80

INTEUCYRIX/IIT MATH GO'S

PS/2 TYPE SIMMS

80287-3.10

Model 30 286

803S7-SX, 16, 20,25.33

Model 50, 55. 60. 70, 80

CALL DRAM COMPANY

(800) 488-DRAM

P.O. Box 590127 • S.F., CA 94159

(415) 398-2987

Inquiry 790.

The EE-100 EPROM Emulator^

Powerful, \fersatile, and Compact Prog. Tool Closed loop
development capability from source code generation through
in-circuit debugging.

STANDARD EQUIPMENT
1-EE-lOO Command Unit • 2-24 pin 2716-32 Detachable
Header Cable • 2-28 pin 275^256 Detachable Header Cable
• 1-28 pin 27512 Detachable Header Cable • l-Desk-Top
Power Supply HCW AC to 5V DC • l-User's Guide Manual
For more information call:

CompuLynk 1-800-969-9889

ISO-B Turnpike Pa.. WastDOfti, MA 01581
Tel (508) 895-3731 • Fax (508) 898-2548

Inquiry 796.

LAPTOP COMPUTERS

MULTILINGUAL APPLICATIONS

Laptop Savings

Laptops: Toshiba • Zenith • NEC • Sharp

• Epson • Mitsubishi • Compaq
Also Laptop Accessories; Modems, Fax Modems,
External Drives, Portable Printers, Memory, Key
Pads, Hard Drives, Batteries, and Auto Adapters.

Computer Options Unlimited

12 Maiden Lane. Bound Brook, NJ 08805
Phone: 201-469-7678 (Fax: 201.469-7544)
Hours: 9am/10pm 7 days Worldwide sales

Inquiry 785.

DTP/WP/Forms and Sign Making

Apple MAC & IBM PC Available languages: Russian, E. Euro-
pean. Turkish, Greek & Indian. It's a DA on MAC, works with
virlually any application program. It's a TSR on PC, for GEM
based graphical WP. PerFORM & Ventura in WYSIWYG.
Keybd remapping utility. Postscript, dot matrix, deskjet &
laserjet fonts. Vinyl cutting sys. for sign making for any of
the languages. Prices start at S250, demo $25. MCA/isa

Solustan, Inc.

378 Hillside Ave., Needham MA 02194
Ph: 617.449-7666 Fax; 617^49-7759

Inquiry 791.

Bsupport for Btrieve®

The "Norton Utilities" for Btrieve users.

Bedit: DISPLAY. UPDATE, COPY, and DELETE.

EXPORT SDF to dBASE S LOTUS RECOVER damaged files.

Edit/Insert using Data Dictionary.

Bbug: TSR Btrieve debugger Displays info in pop-up window.

Brun: BUTIL replacement with Run-Time and C source.

Bedit/Bbug: $120. Brun: S150. VISA/MC/COD/PO

800/359-2721 FAX: 517/887-2366
Information Architects, Inc.

P.O. Box 4184. East Lansing. Ml 48826-4184

Inquiry 797.

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 427

The BUYER'S

Mart

PROGRAMMERS' TOOLS

Dazzle Your Users. . .

...by including a full-featured pop-up
calculator with memory, a 100-line scrollable
tape and more in your application. Takes
minutes and costs as little as $395 witfi no
royalties. Demo disk and manual $5.00. Specify
language.

Liaison Systems, Inc.

P.O. Box 82720, Kenmore, WA 98028
(206) 486-4996 — 30-day money back guarantee.

Inquiry 798.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

325 MEGABYTES Virus Free Share Ware

Dealers/Sysops/Educalors. lnstam IBM Shareware Ubraiy tof your
Customers, user group or Students. Distributed in 25 Megabyte in-
crements on HD l.2n.4 diskettes. S39JX) for first 25 Megabytes, then
add $40.00 tor each 25 Megabyte increment.

AM S3i)0 postage tor eacn 25 Megabyte irwfemeni.
AXJ S4i»/2S Meg incremem tor 1.44 tJ^skenes.

Orders Only: 1-800-876-8496

Info/Tech: 1-405-524-5233

SHARE-NET

ROB 12368, Okla City, OK 73157

No Sorcfiarge for Visa' Mas! erCarO
We gladly accepc PO's from Educational. F=e(l/Slate Agencies

Inquiry 804.

SECURITY

COP'S Copylock II

• Protects on standard diskettes

• Cannot be copied by any device incl. Option Board

• Fully hard disk installable

• Normal back-up of protected programs

• LAN-support

• Creates safe demo version of your software
Standard Version S975, Automatic \fersion $1950

DANCOTEC Computer

In US: 2835 Serra Rd., San Jose, CA 95132 408-729^162 or 1-800-344-2545
Infl: 2880 Baosvart. Oenmarlt Ptione +45-44440322 Fax: -44440722

Inquiry 810.

GW-BASIC PROGRAMMERS

Create professional quality programs with all the bells
and whistles! You get 46 source code files which in-
clude Subroutines & Programs such as:

• Bar Menus • Screen Manager ■ Draw Forms

• Shell Soft • Key Handlers • Find File

• ANSISYS • "Wa\k' Dir Tree » Font Demo

Order: (800) 345-3808— S29.00—MC/Visa Welcome

MIPS, InC'Box 3072'Hammond, LA 70404

for the IBM r>c 4 100% Com[>altble5

Inquiry 799.

FREE SOFTWARE FOR IBM® PC^

TRY US! Get our SOLID GOLD HITS— Winter 1991
edition 15/5.25" or 6/3.5" disks full of our best-
selling software — FREE! Great graphics, program-
mers utilities, desktop publishing, finance, games,
education, and catalog.
Pay only $5.00 for shipping - VISA/MC/AMEX

SMC SOFTWARE PUBLISHERS

CALL TODAY 619-942-9995

Inquiry 805.

BIT-LOCK® SECURITY

Piracy SURVIVAL 5 YEARS proves effectiveness of
powerful multilayered security. Rapid decryption
algorithms. Reliable/small port-transparent security
device. PARALLEL or SERIAL port. Complemented by
economical KEY-LOIC" and multifeatured COMPU-
LOCK™ including countdown, timeout, data encryption,
and multiproduct protection. (Dos/Unix/Mac)

MICROCOMPUTER APPLICATIONS

3167 E. Otero Circle, Littleton, CO 80122
(303) 770-1917

Inquiry 811.

SPEED FORTRAN DEVELOPMENT
AND CUT MAINTENANCE COSTS

FOfMARN— Rnds common programming errors such as msmalched
parameter lists and common blocks, and uninitializEd variables. Prints
detailed cross-references and call-tree diagrams. M29
FORTRAN DEVaOPMEKT TOOLS-indudes Pretty (indents, renumljeis.
ctianges GOTDs to IF-THEN-ELSBS. etc.) and 6 more tools. 5129.
For IBM PC. /Uso lor UNIX-ask for details.

Quibus Enterprises, inc.

3340 Marble Terrace, Colorado Springs, GO 80906
(719) 527-1384

SOFTSHOPPE, INC.

Selected Programs, Latest Versions, As Low
as $1.50, Same Day Shipping, and No
Minimum Order. For FREE CATALOG for
IBM PD/Shareware, CALL 800-829-BEST
(2378) or FAX 313-761-7639.

SOFTSHOPPE, INC.

P.O. BOX 3678, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-3678

COPY PROTECTION

The world's leading software manufacturers depend
on Softguard copy prtjtection systems. Your FREE
DISKETTE introduces you to SuperLock""— invisible copy pro-
tection for IBM-PC (and compatibles) and Macintosh.

• Hard disk support • No source code changes

• Customized versions • LAN support

• New upgrades available
(408) 773-9680
SOFTGUARD SYSTEMS, INC.

710 Lakaway, Suite 200. Sunnyvale. CA 94086

FAX f408) 773-1405

Inquiry 800.

Inquiry 806.

Inquiry 812.

• MULTITASK Real Time

• SERIAL COMMUNICATION by interrupt

MTASK* Professional was designed for the specific re-
quirements of Scientific Laboratories and Robotics
Departments. Gratis: demonstration diskette.

Available for the present, for Turbo Pascal, Turbo C,
Quick Pascal, Turtc Basic. Evaluation software for only
$95. Price $495 + Shipping $20, Taxes not included.

RAMSI® International

53 rue Bernard Iske, F-92350 Plessis Robinson, FRANCE
International FAX: 33 (1) 46.32.48.37

Inquiry 801.

and SDK86(i6

(16 btt)

SDK85 (8 bH)

NOW AVAILABLE ONLY FROM URDA, INC. which has an
exclusive, world-wide, manufacturing and marketing license
from Intel, Inc. The URDA SDK85 and SDK86 educational
trainers and microprocessor development systems are now
furnished fully assembled and boxed with manuals. Call
URDA, Inc. for new low prices and delivery schedules. Other
8. 16 and 32 bit systems are available.

Phone URDA, Inc.

1-800-338-0517 or 412-683-8732

HANDS OFF THE BOARD®

1/2 SIZE SECURITY BOARD

stop floppy boot — Require password to boot PC

Real-time disk encrypt — prevent boot sector virus

Prevent DOS FORMAT/FDISK and low-level formats

Set hard disk READ ONLY or turn ON/OFF

Turn floppies, pnnters and COM ports ON/OFF

IBM XT, AT Bus — DOS V3.0+ — $149.95 + S5.00 S/H

SYSTEMS CONSULTING INC.

PC BOX 111209. Pittsburgh. PA 15238
(412) 781-5280

Inquiry 807

Inquiry 813.

PUBLIC DOMAIN

SECURITY

SERVICES

SHAREWARE

FOR IBM- AND COMPATIBLES

FREE 112 PAGE CATALOG

OVER 3000 PROGRAMS

CALL 1-800-245-BYTE (2983)
BEST BiTS & BYTES

P.O. Box 8225-B, Van Nuys, CA 91409
FOREIGN COUNTRIES SEND $4.00 FOR SHIPPING

FIGHT PIRACY!

Since 1986, companies worldwide have been choosing Az-Tech
security products. If you demaruj the strongest protection available,
why not choose one of these "prwen leaders":

• EVERLOCK Copy Protection

• EVERTRAK Software Security

• EVERKEY Hardware ■Key" Software Security

For IBM and Compatibles. 30 day money back guarantee. Free info
and demo disk available.

Az-Tech Software, Inc.

305 East Franklin, Richmond, MO 64085

(800) 227-0644 ^.t.tlinill

900-258-SAVE

Call REFUNDED if not fully satisfied

Find out wtio sells the product you're looking for at the best
price BEFORE your next mail order WIDE price variations
exist for even lowKjost products. Our system allows you to
easily find software and hardware and hear vendors sorted
by price. (S1.50/min.)

The Consumer Connection™, inc.

PC Box 399, Princeton, MA 01517
508-464-5041

Inquiry 802.

Inquiry 808.

Inquiry 814.

SOFTWARE/ACCOUNTING

FREE CATALOG

IBM SHAREWARE/PUBLIC DOMAIN
LOW AS $1.25/DISK

1-800-321-4270

CRANSTON SOFTWARE

PC Box 2679, Minneapolis, MN 55402-0679

Inquiry 803.
428 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

THE ULTIMATE COPY PROTECTION

' Completely Menu Driven

• Defeats all Hardware/Software Copiers
' No Source Code Changes

' Multiple Layering

• No Damaged Media

• Full Hard Disk Support

Quite
Simply
The Best
Ways To
Protect

Your Valuable
Software Investment

Unlimited Metering
• FREE Demo Disk
STOPVIEVT- STOPCOPY PLUS"

BBI COMPUTER SYSTEMS® (301) 871-1094

14105 Heritage La., SOver Spring, MD 20906 FAX: (301) 460-7545

Inquiry 809.

PC TIME CLOCK

AutoTime is an Employee Management System that
allows you to turn any PC into an Electronic Time
Clock. AutoTime provides Time & Attendance, Job
Costing, Payroll Interface, and Labor Distribution
reporting. Network compatible. Prices start at S495.
Other Business Products: Network FAX, Absence
Call-in, db-EDI.

Chase Technologies

1617 Kingman Ave., San Jose, CA 95128
(408) 998-2917

Inquiry 815.

The BUYER'S Mart

SOFTWARE/ACCOUNTING

SOFTWARE/ENGINEERING

SOFTWARE/ENGINEERING

dBASE BUSINESS TOOLS

• GENERAL LEDGER • PURCH ORD/INVNTORY

• ORDER ENTRY • ACCOUNTS RECVABLE

• JOB COSTING • JOB ESTIMATING

• BILL OF MATLS • SALES ANALYSIS

• PAYROLL • ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

S99 ea. + S&H

dATAMAR SYSTEMS Cred. Card-Check-COO

4876-B Santa Monica Ave.

San Diego, CA 92107 (61 9) 223-3344

Inquiry 816.

Mass2-MASS & VOLUME CALCULATOR
With MATERIALS DATABASE

Easily calculate the volume & weight of hundreds of
shapes. Never need to lool< up material densities again!
Differential and proportional comparisons made
automatically. Menu driven with on-line context sensitive
help. Rexible input system accepts Decimal, Fractional,
and Exponential notation. For IBM PCs and Com-
patibles with 384K free.

DEMPSEY'S FORGE, Software Division

Rt 2 Box 407, Gladys, VA 24554

Inquiry 821.

Worstcase Gets Even Better!

Analog Circuit Simulation
ECA-2 Electronic Circuit Analysis offers the tjest Monte Cario
and Wor^-Case analyses with ail this and MORE included:

• AC, DC, Transient • Interactive/batch modes
Fourier, Temperature • Full nonlinear simulator

• Sine, Pulse, PWL. SFFM, • On Line, Real Time
and Exponential Graphics
generators • Multiple plots

Tatum Labs, Inc.

3917 Research Park Dr., B-1, Ann Arbor, Ml 46108
(313) 663-8810

SOFTWARE/BUSINESS

Inquiry 827.

SOFTWARE/GEOLOGICAL

DATA ENTRY SOFTWARE

Full featured, heads-down data entry
with Uvo-pass verification, edit language,
operator stats, much more! Designed for
the PSffi" , PC, XT, AT or compatibles.
PC's from $395 LAN version available

FREE 30 day trial

Computer Keyes Tel: 206/776/6443

21929 IVlakah Rd., Fax: 206/776-7210

Woodway, WA 98020 USA: 800/356-0203

PC BASED DATA ACQUISITION

Snap-Series Software is the best solution for Integrated
Data Acquisition, Anslysis, and Display without program-
ming. Works with I/O hardware by 12 manufacturers,
and allows extensive time and frequency domain
analysis. Ideal for monitoring, waveform generation, and
DSP.

HEM Data Corporation

17336 12 Mile Road. Southfield, Ml 48076
Voice: (313) 559-5607 Fax: (313) 559-8006

GEOLOGY & GROUNDWATER PROGRAMS

Borehole Logs, E-Logs, Cross Sections, Stratigraphy,
Well Drawings Fence, Contours, Isopachs. 3-D
Diagrams, Pumping Tests, Groundwater Chemistry,
Piper, Stiff, Durov etc. Used by EPA and State Agen-
cies for RCRA & CERCLA. Our software is used by con-
sultants, universities, and oil & coal companies in 26
countries. Free brochure and demo disks.

Earthware of California

30100 town center dr. #196. Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
Phone (714) 495-5727 FAX (714) 495-4820

Inquiry 822.

Inquiry 828.

LOCATE HARD-TO-FIND BUSINESS
AND STATISTICAL SOFTWARE

Econometrics • Biometrics • Cluster Analysis • Multivariate Analysis
• Marketing Statistics • Experimental Statistics • ANOVA • Regres-
sion • Linear Programming • Project Planner • Forecasting S Time-
Senes • SaJes & Market Forecasting • Quality Control and Industrial
Experiments • Parameter and Tolerance Design • And Many More!
SEND FOR FREE PRODUCT GUIDE!

Lionheart Press, Inc.

P.O. Box 379. Alburg, VT 05440
(514) 933-4918 FAX: (514) 939-3087

Analog Circuit Simulation

• Macintosh and PC CAE

• Schematic Entry

• SPICE Simulator

• Model Libraries

• Monte Carlo Analysis

• Plotting/Graphics Output

Intusoft

The leader in low cost, full
featured CAE software

Intusoft has a complete PC-
based system including every-
thing from schematic entry
thnxigh SPICE simulatkxi using
extended memory to com-
pfBhensi\« interactNe post pro-
cessing. Starting at S95 for
IsSpce, the complete system
sells tor just S790.

RO. Box 6607, San Pedro, CA 90734
(213) 83»I710 FAX (213)833-9658

GEOLOGICAL CATALOG

Geological software for log plotting, grldding/con-
touring, hydrology, digitizing, 3-D solid modelling,
synthetic seismogram, fracture analysis, image pro-
cessing, scout ticket manager, over 50 programs
in catalog. (Macintosh too! Please call, or write, for
Free Catalog!

RockWare, inc.

4251 Kipling St., Suite 595, Wheal Ridge, CO 80033 USA
(303) 423-5645 Fax (303) 423-6171

Inquiry 817.

Inquiry 823.

SOFTWARE/GRAPHICS

Staff Administration Software — A must for all managers!

Named for its inherent ability to "keep an eye on your staff," StaffMinder™
handles ttie Ukwing:

• Attendance tracking and analysis • Salary, rwiew and bonjs traclurg

• \&cdon planning and scheduling •Compliance reporting

• Siatis irvenlory • Employee information
StaffMinder'" provides numerous informative reports. Free serial
mouse included with eacti order. Simple poim and click interface
allows for easy implementation. Source code evailable.

List price S395. Ask for details on current special pricing!

NEXT GENERATION SOFTWARE

Suite 1445, 3340 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, GA 30326
CALL (800) 966-0707

Inquiry 818.

SOFTWARE/ENGINEERING

Affordable Engineering Software

FREE APPLICATION GUIDE & CATALOG
Circuit Analysis • Root Locus * Thermal Analysis • Plot-
ter Drivers • Engineering Graphics * Signal Processing
• Active/Passive Filter Design • Transfer Function/FFT
Analysis • Logic Simulation • Microstrip Design • PC/f^S-
DOS • Macintosh • VISA/MC

BV Engineering Professional Software

2023 Chicago Ave,, Suite B-1 3, Riverside, CA 92507
(714) 781-0252

Inquiry 819.

MATFOR

UNMATCHED VALUE FOR NUMERICAL COMPUTING

An interpreter with over 375 functions for Matrix Compula-
tions, Calculus, Diffefential/Non linear Equations. Optimiza-
tion, Linear/Dynamic Programming, Graphics, Advanced
Statistics, Signal Processing, Analysis/Design of Control
Systems, and more. Extendible and Self-contained. S150
IBM/compatibles. Editions using extended memory on
286/366 also available.

Computational Engineering Associates

3525 Del Mar Heights Rd.. Suite 1 83, San Diego. CA 92130
(619) 259-8863

Inquiry 820.

MICROSTRESS CORP.

New MICROSAFE 2D/3D Rel. 3.
Rnite Element Analysis program for IBM PCs, MAC II Fam.,
and compatibles. Number of nodes, elements arrd conditions
limited by disk space and model bandwidth (11000 dxj.f.) Color
graphics support on various display cards {EGA, VGA. VEGA
and Hercules) S250. SAFECAD (bi-directional AUTOCAD
interface) S95. GRAFPLUS S55. Plus S/H.

Accept VISA/MasterCard. Send for brochure.
P.O. Box 3194, Bellevue, VJA 98009
Tel./Fax (206) 643-9941

Inquiry 824.

SIMULATION WITH GPSS/PC^

GPSS/PC"" is an MS-DOS compatible version of the
popular mainframe simulation language GPSS.
Graphics, animation and an extremely interactive en-
vironment allow a totally new view of your models. If
you are contemplating the creation or modification of
a complex system you need GPSS/PC to help you
predict its behavior. Call now.

MINUTEMAN Software

P.O. Box 171/Y, Stow, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
(508) 897-5GS2 ext. 540 (800) 223-1430 ext. 540

Inquiry 825.

Circuit Analysis — SPICE

Non-linear DC & Transient; Linear AC.

♦ Version 3B1 with BSIM, GaAs, JFET,
MOSFEX BJT, diode, etc. models, screen
graphics. Improved speed and convergence.

* PC Version 2G6 available at $95.

Call, write, or check inquiry # for more info.

Northern Valley Software

28327 Rothrock Dr., Ranctio Palos \ferdes, CA 90274

(213) 541-3677

Inquiry 826.

S E G S 2.1

Scientific Engineering Grapfiics System

• Logarithmic, Time/Date & Linear Axes.

• Easy Curve Fitting and Data Smoothing.

• 1-2-3 Interface & Numeric Spreadsheet-

• Supports all Video & Device Standards.

• 10 Curves with up to 16,000 points each.

Advanced Micro Solutions

3817 Windover Dr. 405-340-0697
Edmond, OK 73013 800-284-3381

CHAOS: The Software''

Explore Chaos in nature for yourself, in a hands-on, visual
way. Autodesk worked with James Gleick to transform some
of the most famous equations from the new science of Chaos
into a series of six interactive programs that let you create
stunning visual patterns in higfi resolution color and sound.
$59.95

For IBM PC/XT/AT, PS/2 or compatibles with 640KB RAM,
MS-DOS/PC-DOS. EGA«GA

Autodesk, Inc.

2320 Marinship Way. Sausalito, CA 94965
(800) 223-2521

Inquiry 829.

QuickGeometry Library

All the C geometty and DXF routines
you expect. . .and morel
(617) 628-5217
Building Blocl( Software

PO Box 1373, Somervllie, MA 02144

Inquiry 830.

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 429

The BUYER'S Mart

SOFTWARE/GRAPHICS

SOFTWARE/LANGUAGES

SOFTWARE/MEDICAL

The Ultimate CAD/CAM Engine

TurboGeometry Library 3.0. The mosl complete tool box of
2D & 3D routines availabie today! Over 300 routines. Sur-
facing. Soiids, Hidden iine. Wumes, Areas. Transforms.
Perspectives. Decomp. Clipping, Tangents & more. 30 day
guar.. S199.95 w/source S&H incl. Foreign S225.00. MS/PC
DOS 2.0+. Turbo Pascal. Turbo C. MSG. MIX C. Zortec C++.
VISA/MC. PO. Chk. USA funds only

Disk Software, Inc.

2116 E. Arapaho Rd., #487. Richardson. TX 75081
(214) 423-7288, (800) S35-7760, FAX (214) 423-7288

FINAL LIQUIDATION!!

IBM ■ Compilers, SAVE UP to BOW

Title Retail Sale

COBOL V2.0 (3%" & 5'A") $900 $100

Prof. FORTRAN V1.3 (3'/2" & 5y<") $795 $ 90

C Compiler (3'/!- or 5'A") $395 $ 50

BASIC Compiler V2.0 (3'/4-) $495 $ 50

Macro Assembler V2.0 (3V2" or 5'A') $195 $ 40

VISA. MC. Cfieck accepted. S and H fee $10 per order

THE COMPUTER PLACE, INC.

12105 Darnestown Rd. #9A Tel: (301) 330-6016

Gaithersburg. MD 20878 Fax: (301) 926-3415

Medical Systems with ECS

PPM offers a complele line of medical software ranging from simple
insurance claims processing to comprehensive A/R management.
PC CLAIM PLUS-claims processing with ECS to over 100 major
insurance carriers-30-day money-back guarantee
THRESHOLD-compIete A/R, patient billing, comprehensive prac-
tice management statistics

CLAIM NET-Naiionwide electronic claims clearinghouse transmits
claims to over 100 insurance carriers

Software prices star: at S459.00. Dealer inquiries v«lcome.

Physicians Practice Management

350 E. New York, Indianapolis, IN 46204
800-428-3515 317-634-8080

Inquiry 831.

Inquiry 837.

Inquiry 843.

SOFTWARE/MARKETING

SOFTWARE/SCANNERS

RAINDROP'"

FAST, compact PrtScrn Utility for end users AND
developers. Hardcopy as fast as 10 sees. Average binary
size ■ 6 l<byte. 14 video graphic standards. Scale, rotate,
colorize and more. 'CALL' from user-written programs.
Complete 9- & 24-pin dot-matrix. Inkjet, and laserjet
library S44.95+S3 S/h.

ECLECTIC SYSTEMS

8106 St. David Ct., Springfield, VA 22153
(703) 440-0064

The "Software Success Reference Book {1987-1988}" is a
MUST READ if you want to market your software products
successfully. Written by David H. Bowen, publisher of Soft-
ware SuccessT the monthly newsletter on successfully run-
ning a software business, the Reference Book is a 268-page
guide, organized by topic. Covers Lead Generation. Promo-
tion, Pricing, Distribution, Support, etc. Only S25. Check or
Credit Card (Visa/MC/AEX).

100% Money Back Guarantee

Software Success

PO Box 9006, San Jose. CA 95157
(408) 446-2504 FAX (408) 255-1098

Optical Character Recognition

PC-OCR"" software will convert typed or printed pages
into editable text files for your word processor Works wilfi
HP ScanJet, Canon, Panasonic & most otfier scanners.
Supplied with over 20 popular fonts User trainable: you
can teach PC-OCR"* to read virtually any typestyle. ind.
foreign fonts. Proportional text matrix pnnter output Xerox
copies OK. From S99. Check/VISA/^CAmExpCOD

Essex Software Publishing, Inc.

P.O. Box 391, Cedar Grove, NJ 07009
(201) 783-6940

Inquiry 832.

Inquiry 838.

Inquiry 844.

SOFTWARE/MATHEMATICS

PEN PLOTTER EMULATOR

FPLOT turns your dot matrix or laser printer into
an HP pen plotter. Fast lii-res output. No jagged
lines. Vary line width, color Works with AutoCad,
Drafix, etc. Supports NEC P5/P6, IBM Proprinter,
Epson LQ/FX, Toshiba, HP Laserjet, Okidata
29X/39X, Hercules/CGA/EGAA/GA. S64 checWm.o./
VISA/lvlC

Fplot Corporation

24-16 Steinway St., Suite 605, Astoria, NY 11103
718-545-3505

Fast WYSIWYG Editor

Leo — the best math editor available. See
equations as you type. Menu and control key
operation. Reads and writes TeX files.
Leo for PCs — $199

ABK Software

4495 Ottawa PI., Boulder CO 80303
(303) 494-4872

INCREDIBLE OCR

A lota) solution to all your OCR needs. Recognizes many common
text typefaces, ana can quickly learn most others. Supports all the
major word processors. Faster and more accuteiie than systems
costing twice as much. Amazingly il works with virtually every brand
of hand-held scanner, most full-page scanners, and all PC/fax
Boards. More than 15,000 satisfied users.

All for only $184 including shipping'
'International include S25 for airmail shipping
Check, money onder. VISft. MC, and COD accepted.

PAi OCR

611 Tucker Street, Raleigh, NO 27603
800-762-5542 FAX: 919-828-5196

Inquiry 833,

Inquiry 839,

Inquiry 845,

SOFTWARE/SCIENTIFIC

GRAPHICS PRINTER SUPPORT

AT LAST! Use the PrtSc key to make quality scaled B&W
or color reproductions of your display on any dot matrix,
Inkjet, or laser printer (incl. Postscript) in up to 64 shades
of gray or 256 colors. GRAFPLUS supports all versions
of DOS with IBM (incl. EGA, VGA, Super VGA), Her-
cules, or compatible graphics boards. Linkable/OEM
versions available. S59.95

Jewell Technologies, Inc.

4740 - 44th Ave. SW. Seattle, WA 98116
(800) 359-9000 x527 (206) 937-1081

Inquiry 834.

MATH EDITING for the pc

1 Fds

v'o±(3x

• MathEdit constructs math equations to tie insened into

WordPerfect. Word. WordStar, and others.

• WYSIWYG interface— no codes need to t>e learned.

• MathEdit— sm

K-TALK

COMUUNICATIONS

30 West First Avenue, Si
Columous, Onw 43201
(614) 294-3535

Inquiry 840.

C Scientific Library

Create customized scientific and engineering tools with this com-
preher^sive library of 600 functions including linear algebra, eigen-
systems, matrix computations, time series, smoothing and filtering,
statistics, regression, linear and integer programming, nonlinear
systems, optimization, differential equations, curvefitting and
graphics. Superior documentation. Usable, encapsulated, modular,
reliable, mature, and affordable. Several licensing and system op-
tions are available starting at S295. Request on company letterhead
or send S5 (refundable on purchase) for 50-page CSL Buyer's Guide.

Elgenware Technologies

13090 La Vista Drive, Saratoga, CA 95070
(408) 867-1184 Fax: (408) 867-6575

inquiry 846,

GRAPHICS LIBRARIES for
C, FORTRAN, PASCAL & QuIckBASiC

• Supports VIDEO, PRINTERS S PLOITERS.

• Linear, log, polar, smith, bar & pie charts.

• Scalable fonts, line types, markers.

• Multiple plots on a page.

• Over 100 routines with full source code.

• 240 page manual. No royalties.

S295.00 (713) 491-2088

Sutrasoft

10506 Perrrian Dr • Sugar Land, TX 77478

Inquiry 835.

SOFTWARE/LANGUAGES

DRUMA FORTH-83

Break the 64K barrier without speed/space penalty.
Powerful, attractively priced. '83 Standard.

• ^Mb+ automated memory management

• Fuil OS interface, extensive utilities

• On-line documentation, ASCII/bl(xk files

• Other products: wind(Dsvs, modules, profiler

• IBM PC/XT/AT including 386 compatibles

FREE leam/utility disks with purchase

DRUIVIA iNC.

6448 Hwy. 290 East E103, Austin, TX 78723

Orders: 512-323-5411 Fax: 512-323-0403

MATHEMATICIANS-ENGINEERS

Have you ever seen functions of a complex
variable? Would you like to really understand
differential operators like div, grad and curl?
How about a peel< into the fourth dimension?
Call or write for information on our latest PC
and f^acintosfi software.

Lascaux Graphics

3220 Steuben Ave., Bronx. NY 10467
(212) 654-7429

Inquiry 841.

ORDINARY/PARTIAL
DIFFERENTIAL EQN
SOLVER

FOR THE IBM PC 8, COMPATIBLES

MICROCOMPATIBLES, INC.

301 Prelude Dr, Silver Spring, MD 20901

(301) 593-0683

FREE CATALOG

800-942-MATH

MIcroMath Scientific Software

Salt Lake City, UT 84121-0550

Inquiry 847.

Scientific/Engineering/Graphics Libraries
Turbo Pascal, Turbo-i-MS C, MS Fortran, Basic

Send for FREE catalogue of software tools for Scientists and
Engineers. Includes: Scientific subroutine libraries, device
independent graptiics libraries (including EGA, HP plotter
and Laserjet support), scientific ctiarting libraries, 3-D plot-
ting library, data acquisition libraries, menu-driven process
control software. Versions available for a variety of popular
languages.

Quinn-Curtis

1191 Chestnut St., Unit 2-5, Newton, MA 02164
(617) 965-5660

inquiry 836.
430 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Inquiry 842.

Inquiry 848.

The BUYER'S Mart

SOFTWARE/SORT

OPT-TECH SORT/MERGE

Extremely fast Sort/Merge/Select utility. Run as an MS-
DOS command or CALL as a subroutine Supports most
languages and file types including Btrieve and dBASE.
Unlimited file sizes, multiple keys and mucfi morel MS-
DOS $149. OS/2. XENIX. UNIX S249.

(702) 588-3737
Opt-Tech Data Processing

P.O. Box 678 — Zephyr Cove, NV 89448

Inquiry 849.

SOFTWARE/TOOLS!

CBASIC LIBRARY ON PCDOS!

A general purpose CSASIC function library witfi over 100 functions.
Most functions are written in assemWy language for compactness and
speed. Some commands include: Windcws, access all keys on keytwanl.
complete screen control without using ANSI .SYS, do any BDOS calls,
file and reconj locking, calculator, child processes, peek and poke at
any location. Network compatability. access any communication port
and printer port, etc. Write or call new for FREE information. Onfy S199.00
+ SSlOO S/H. VISA/MC'COD UPS Accepted

GOLDEN OAKS SOFTWARE

(Software & Consulting)

4744 Madison Avenue. Sacramento, CA 95841
(916) 331-1111

Inquiry 850.

SOFTWARE/UTILITIES

Duplicate Disks Fast!

DlskDupe duplicates, formats and compares disks
amazingly fast— up to 200 disks an hour! Us unique
RELAY feature lets you quickly duplicate lots of master
. disks effortlessly. And you can protect your masters by
storing disk images on your hard disk. Also supports
high-density formats— plus a whole lot more! S79+S/H,
Money Back Guarantee.

Micro System Designs, Inc^

4962 El Camino, Suite 204. Los Altos. CA 94022
(415) 964-2844 Fax: (415) 964-4529

Inquiry 851.

SOFTWARE/VOICE

MULTI-VOICE® TOOLS

MultiAtoice Tools is a complete development Toolkit for
Pascal or "C" lo access all the features of the WATSON
or DIALOGIC Speech Boards. It is also a high level library
of procedures to build MULTI-LINE VOICE RESPONSE
systems in minutes. A powerful TELEPHONE ANSWERING
program is given as an example with source code.
DIALOGIC. RHETOREX, VBX S599, W^CTSON S99, Visa/MC.
Now available: Fax Tool Kit.

ITI Logiclel

1705 St. Joseph E, Suite 4. Montreal. PQ, Can. H2J INI
(514) 861-5988

We can also write your Voice Response applicailon programs.

STATISTICS

JUST RELEASED STATISTIX 3.1

PC Magazine Editor's Choice!

^ can refy on STATISTIX to gei your work done EASILY and QUICKLY.
Menu-driven. Powerful yet compaa. STATISTIX offers twsic artd advanced
stalisiics witti an easy-to-follow manual full of examples.

"Technical support was excellent. . ."

PC Magazine.

Get ttie quality >tiu want at a price jcu can afford. US. & overeeas price:
S199. Money-back-guaranlee.

Tel: 612-631-2852 Fax: 612-636-3070

Analytical Software, ro box 130204, st PauiuN 55113
Inquiry 852.

Cover all the bases of design . . .

with Methodologist's Toolchest™ a comprehensive pacloge
of five programs to aid in research design and analysis.
Specifically, these programs offer assistance in sampling,
data collection procedures, statistical analyses, experimen-
tal design, and measurement and scaling. S49955+s/h. VISA,
MC. RMEX. PO. Checks accepted.

The Idea Works, Inc.

100 West Briarwjod, Columbia, MO 65203
1.800-537.4866 FAX 314-445-4589

Outside USA 3144454554

Inquiry 853.

STATISTICS

NCSS 5.x Series — $125

Easy^o-use menus & spread sheet. Multiple regression.
T-tests. ANOVA (up to 10 factors, rep. measures,
covariance). Forecasting. Factor, cluster, & discriminant
analysis. Nonparametrics. Cross Tabulation. Graphics:
histograms, box, scatter, etc. Reads ASCII/Lotus. Many
new add-on modules.

NOSS

329 North 1000 East, Kaysville, UT 84037
Phone: 801-546-0445 Fax; 801-546-3907

Inquiry 854.

SCA STATISTICAL SYSTEM

The on/y statistical software encompassing
Forecasting & Time Series Analysis
Quality and Productivity Improvement
General Statistical Analysis

Available on DOS. OS/2 and Mac operating systems.
Call today for more information

Scientific Computing Associates

4513 Lincoln Ave., Suite 106, Lisle, IL 60532, USA

Phone: (708) 960-1698 FAX: (708) 960-1815
Inquiry 855.

Experience the POWER!

StatPac Gold is tfie award-winning statistics and
forecasting package that delivers! It's fast, flexible,
easy to use and dependable. Time-tested and load-
ed with features. Basic and advanced statistics with
graphics. Over 14,000 satisfied customers. You be
the judge! Call for your free brochure.

StatPac Inc.

6500 Nicollet Ave. S., (Minneapolis. MN 55423
(612) 866-9022

TERMINAL EMULATION

TEK 4207/4105/4014 Emulation

PC-PLOTV is a complete communications program
which includes file transfer, script files, VT-100/200
emulation plus Tektronix graphics terminal emulation.
Supports C0M1-4 plus support for DECnet, NETBIOS,
U-B Netl. Graphics screenprint- $225. Free Catalog.

MicroPlot Systems Co.

1897 Red f=ern Dr. Columbus, Ofiio 43229
614-882-4786 614-882-3399 (BBS/FAX)

Inquiry 856.

TRANSLATORS!

lOOo/o PASCAL -> C

P2C translates Titrtw Pascal 3'4;5 into C code (TurtX), Microsoft.
TopSpeed, ANSI) and supports all TP features: sets, nested func-
tions, witfi. variant records, strings, files, interrupts, const expres-
sions, graphics, units, dynamic nwmory management, mem & port
arrays, absolute variables; in short — everything except inline and
objectoriented teatures. Comes with full TP runtime library emulation
and automatically generates project, make, header, and C files.
English manual (130-k pages) included. Professional Edition in-
cludes complete source code for emulation library.
Standard Ed. S395 Professional Ed. S595 (MC, VISA, AMEX)
LAUER & WALLWrrZ GmbH, Erlkoenigweg 9,
D-6200 WIESBADEN, West Germany, Phone +49 (611) 42771

Inquiry 857.

UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER

PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER!

BATTERY BACK UPS

MICRO UPS provides standby emergency pwier and voltage irregularity
pfotection! When irregularities occur, UPS kicks in immediately wilfl
the necessary power insiiring continuous operation.

200 Watt #29033 ^1 49.00
400 Watt #29034 »1 99.00
FREE CATALOG SS.OOS/H
With your order Call 1.800-776-3700 or send order to:

AMERICAN DESIGN COMPONENTS

Dept. 211-110 815 Faiiview Ave , PC. Box 220. Fain/iew. WJ 07022

Inquiry 858.

UNINTERRUPTIBLE POWER

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER

And Make It Last Longer

FREE money.saving literature tells you how to protect your com-
puter and make H last longer with an uninterruptible power supply.
500VA through 18KVA models from the worid's largest manufac-
turer of single-phase UPS.

Best Power Technology, Inc.

P.O. Box 280. Necedah, Wl 54646
Toil-Free (800) 356-S794, Ext. 3860

Tel«phon«: (608) 56S.7200, Ext. 3860

See our Ad on page 450.

Inquiry 859.

DATASAVER AC POWER BACKUP

Provides reliable, affordable power protection for LAN
Systems. Fileservers, CAD/CAM Systems, and all Desktop
Microcomputers. Low profile, convection cooled and auto
shutdown capabilities are some of the many user benefits.
Highest quality. Made in the U. S. A. (Dealer, VAR, OEM
inquiries welcome)

For Free Information Call or Write:

CUESTA SYSTEM CORPORATION

3440 Roberto Court, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
(800) 332-3440 (805) 541-4160

Inquiry 860.

UTILITIES

DEAL - STEAL - DEAL

Cardfile /Autodialer

■ DBaselll+compatitile * Any Mouse or none

• More than 1.000.000 Records • Not Memory Resident

• Not Copy protected • Cards can be sorted

• Direct search and content • Any Phone and Modem
search

This is a MUST HAVE Utility. It's fast, easy, and yotj can afford it.
$19.85

Engineering Concepts

314 N. Newell PI., Fullerton. OA 92632
(714) 525-3519

Inquiry 861.

EZ-"DISK'' COPY PLUS™

FLAWIiSS DISKETTES FAST! on Sie PC JOU areatfy mii THIS IS SOITOARE
ONLY! Bypasses DOS lor the utmost speed. Great tor publishers, Oweiopers.
MIS directors, etc 2X+ faster than DOS. Read dislcette once, then, quickly
& accurately mass duplicate 5.25" & 35" dislc on )Our wn POXT/AT/etc
Rittttats. copies, wrifies. optionaay SERIALIZES & PfllfnS LABEI^ in 1 smooth
opetafion. Save iniages lo KD, more , Replaces dedicated hanlware worth
SIOOOs. Only $139 +S&H. (for 1 machine) or $495 (NCR for up
to 10 machines.) (£

EZX, 917 Oakgrove Dr.ii>1l)1-B1090, Houston, TX 77058

Otdere C/mama) & Catalogs Toll Free: 1.«00 • 359 • 9539
INFO: 713^0-9900: FAX: 713/280-0525: BBS: 713^80-8180

Inquiry 862.

COPY AT TO PC— BRIDGE-IT 3.5

■■CPYA12PC" REUABLY writes 360KB lloppres on 1 2 MB dnves. sawng a
slot for a second hard dsk or tape bacitHjp, Only S79O0 + S/H
"BFIIDGE.IT 36" is a DEVICE DfllVER supporting S'A' 720KE/1,44MB
drives for PC/XTWT without upgrading DOS/BIOS, Only S39O0 + S/H
BRIDGE.n" 3i BUNDLED Wmf INTERNAL 1,«MB DRIVE /!!
S129O0 + S/H VIS*/MOtX)0 UPS B/n

MICROBRIDGE COMPUTERS

665 Sky Way Suite 220, San Carlos, CA 94(J70

1-415-S93-8777(CA) 1-415-593-7675 (FAX)

1-416-855-1993 (ONADA) 1-800-523-8777
0908-260-188 (UK) 4711 4020 (FRG)

Inquiry 863.

DELTA, the better text file comparison tool. Scrollable
wintJowed presentations of file or directory comparisons,
with a built-in editor iwindow. Ideal for programmers! Re-
quires DOS 2.0 or higher with at least 384K RAM. A
hard disk is recommended. Order now. $79.
DEMO available on our BBS

OPENetwork

F^WER TOOLS FOR POWER USERS
215 Berkely PI. (B-1), Brooklyn, NY 11217
718-638-2240 BBS: 718-638-2239

Inquiry 864.

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 431

The BUYER'S Mart

UTILITIES

UTILITIES

WORD PROCESSING

Recover deleted files fast!

Disk Explorer now includes automatic file recovery. You
type in the deleted file's name, Disk Explorer finds and
restores it. Disk Explorer also shows what's really on disk;
view, change or create formats, change a file's status,
change data in any sector MS-DOS $75 U.S. Check/
Credit card vrelcome.

QUAID SOFTWARE LIMITED
45 Charles St. E. 3rd Fl.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4Y 1S2
(416) 961-8243

Why You Want BATCOM!

BATCOM is a batch file compiler that transforms your
.bat files to .exe files to make them faster. BATCOM
extends DOS with many new commands so you can
read keyboard Input, use subroutines, and much more.
In addition, BATCOM protects your source code. No
royalties! Only $59.95. Order today!

Wenham Software Company

5 Burley St., Wenham, MA 01984
(508) 774-7036

DuangJan

Bilingual word processor for English and: Armenian,
Bengali, Burmese, Euro/Latin/African, Greek. Gujarati,
Hindi, Khmer, Lao, Punjabi, Russian, Sinhalese, Tamil.
Telugu, Thai, Ukranian, Viet, . . . Only S109+S5 s/h
(foreign + $12 s/h). Font editor included. For any IBM
compatibles with dot-matrix & LaserJet printer. Demo
$9+$1 s/h. Visa/MC

MegaChomp Company

3438 Cottman Ave.. Philadelphia, PA 19149-1606

(215) 331-2748 FAX: (215) 331-4188

Inquiry 866.

Inquiry 869.

WINDOWS TOOLS

COPYWRITE

CopyWrite
Removes
Copy Protection

No more diskettes, .
manuals or Uo
codewheels.

1000's of products copied.

QUAID SOFTWARE LIMITED

45 Charles St. E. 3rd Fl, Dept B.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4Y 1S2
(416) 961-8243 Fax (416) 961-6448

Hermes DDE Library

The Hermes DDE Library is a powerful library of high level
routines for MS-Windows'" programmers. Hermes provides
support for DDE at a much higher level than that provided
in the Windows SDK. Your program attains added functionali-
ty by interacting and communicating with other Windows ap-
plications. Compared to the Windows SDK, Hermes reduces
the code required to implement DDE by hundreds of lines
of 'C. Hermes is priced at S295.

Raindrop Software Corporation

845 E. Arapaho, Suite 105. Richardson, Texas 75081
(214) 234-2611 Fax (214) 234-2674

See our ad on page 222.

Inquiry 867.

MULTI-WRITER"

MULTI-LINGUAL Word processor. 30-f- languages! English,
Eastern & Western European, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, etc.
No hardvrare modifications necessary! Font editor allows
design & prim out of custom-made characters. Customize
keyboard layouts. Edits from right to left. Mail merge. Sup-
ports 9 & 24 pin printers S Laser Jet II. Req: IBM/PC/
XT/Ar/256K. Only S2O0-fS12 s/h. Demo SIO S4 s/h.
Visa/MC/Eurochecques

Summit Software Ltd.

PO Box 2265, Jerusalem. Israel 91022
Tel: 972-2-241003 F=ax: 972-2-259239

Inquiry 870.

WORD PROCESSING

REMOVE HARDWARE LOCKS

Software utility allows for the removal ot hardware locks. Don't wait
for your lock or key device to tail or be stolen.
Guaranteed to worki The following packages are available:
PCAD S199.00 CAOKEY S 99.00

MICROSTATION S99.00 PERSONAL DESIGNER S199.00
MasterCAM S250.00 SmanCAM S250.00
TANGO PCB S 99.00 CADVANCE S99,00
PLUS SHIPPING AND HANDLING
PHONE (204) 669-4639 FAX (204) 668-3566
VISA and MASTERCARD Welcome

SafeSoft Systems inc.

191 Kirlystone Way, Winnipeg. MB. Canada, R2G 3B6

FARSI / GREEK / ARABIC / RUSSIAN

Hebrew, all European, Scandinavian, plus either Hindi, Pun-
jabi, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil. Thai, Korean, Viet, or tPA. Full-
fealured multi-language word processor supports on-screen
foreign characters and NLQ priming with no hardware
modifications. Includes Font Editor S355 dot matrix; S150
add'l for laser; S19 demo. S/H in U.S. incl'd. Req. PC. 640K,
graphics. 30-day Guarantee. MCA/ISA/AMEX

GAMMA PRODUCTIONS, INC.

710 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 609, Santa Monica, CA 90401

213/394.8622 Tlx: 5106008273 Gamma Pro SNM

YOUR SALES MESSAGE

about the special computer product or service
that you provide belongs in print.

THE BUYER'S MART

can help you reach computer professionals and
produce valuable inquiries for your company!
Call Brian Higgins for more information
603-924-3754

or

Fax: 603-924-2883

Inquiry 865.

Inquiry 868.

Attention U.S. BYTE Subscribers

Watcli for the next BYTE DECK mailing that
will be arriving in your mailbox soon!

Use this as a fast, convenient tool to purchase
computer products and services. It's loaded with
essential hardware and software products that you
should be aware of when making your buying
decisions. . .and it's absolutely FREE!

If you have a computer product or service, and
would like to reach 275,000 influential BYTE
magazine subscribers, please give Ed Ware a call
today at (603) 924-2596.

EVTE

Here's what a BYTE Deck advertiser has to say:

"Ten years ago we advertised in the very first BYTE Deck— the number of sales
leads we received was enormous! The BYTE Deck was so successfiil for us, that we
have continued to use it over the past ten years!"

Lisa Tarpoff, Marketing Manager, Heath Company, Benton Harbor, MI

432 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 83 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 84)

VOICE MASTER KEY® SYSTEM II

VOICE RECOGNITION & SPEECH RESPONSE
FOR IBM PC/XT/AT/386, PS/2, LAPTOPS, COMPATIBLES

VOICE MASTER KEY' ,

TV 5" ^

\n_ju!o mau low «*i-^ttAMi

. ^ IN OUT

I
I

FOR PRODUCTIVITY, PRESENTATIONS, SOFTWARE DESIGN,
ENTERTAINMENT, LANGUAGE TRAINING. EDUCATION, MORE...
SPEECH/SOUND RECORDING AND PLAYBACK. Desktop Audio sound editing
allows you to create custom sound applications. Variable sample rate {to 20 KHz) and
compression levels. A four-voice music synthesizer is included also!
VOICE RECOGNITION TSR utility allows you to add voice command keyboard
macros to your CAD, desktop publishing, word processing, spread sheet, or
entertainment programs. Up to 64 voice commands in RAM at once-more from disk.
HARDWARE SYSTEM contains built-in speaker with separate volume and tone
controls, external speaker and headphone jacks. Enclosure made of sturdy vinyl-clad
steel. Attaches to parallel printer port without affecting normal printer operation (U.S.
Patent 4,812,847). Headset microphone, printer cable, 9 volt AC adapter (110 volt
UUCSA listed), and comprehensive user manual included.

QUALITY THROUGHOUT. MADE IN USA. ONLY $21 9.95
ORDER HOTLINE: (503) 342-1271 Mon-Fri, 8 AM to 5 PM PST

Visa/MasterCard, company checks, money orders, CODs (with prior approval)
accepted. Personal checks subject to 3 week shipping delay. Specify computer type
when ordering. Add $5 shipping charge for delivery in USA and Canada. Foreign
inquiries contact Covox for C&F/CIF quotes. OEM configurations available.

30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE IF NOT COMPLETELY SATISF/ED.
CALL OR WRITE FOR FREE PRODUCT CATALOG

COVOX INC. TEL (503) 342-1271

675 Conger Street FAX (503) 342-1283

Eugene, Oregon 97402 BBS (503) 342-41 35

200 MHz Logic Analyzer

200 or 100MHz sampling
24 Channels

Expansion to 72 channels
16 Levels of triggering
1 6K samples/channel
Variable threshold levels
3 External Clocks
1 2 Clocl< Qualify lines

$799-12100 (100 MHz) $1299-27100 (100 MHz) $1899-27200 (200 MHz)

UNIVERSAL PROGRAMMER

PAL ^ ^

GAL s^i^'div' \ .A

EPROM
EEPROM
PROM
87XXX...

5ns PALs

$475

4 Meg EPROMs
FREE software updates on BBS

GANG PROGRAMMER $215

4 32pin Sockets (8 Socket option)
•2716-27010 EPROMs

Vr Call "(201) 994-6669
Link Computer Graphics, Inc.
™^ 4 Sparrow Dr., Livingston. NJ 07039 FAX:994-0730

r^CoMPwom

9,600-38,400 bps
MODEM-i-FAX...$279

NOW you can afford a SPEEDMODEM.^ Raw speed of 300 - 9600
bps and 4:1 data compression pusli througfiput up to 38,400 bps.
Dynamic Impedance Stabilization- provides robust performance on
noisy telephone circuits. A 9600 bps send/receive, full-featured FAX
is included on the same card. Total communications capability-only
$279. It comes with a 30-day money back guarantee and a 5-year
warranty. BYTE magazine said our 2400 bps modem was "a real
deal"*, ..well we've done it again... our COMBO - is setting a new
standard for value and performance. See for yourself... ■3,'89p.io2

(408)732 4500 CALL NOW 800 ACT ON IT (800)228 6648

Circle 74 on Reader Service Card

Only your imagination
limits how you benefit

from PERCON®
keyless data collection.

Checking out books or checking in employees — input
data quickly and accurately using bar codes or magnetic
stripes. PERCON has proven bar code solutions for IBM®,
DEC"", and Apple Macintosh®. Call 1-800-8-PERCON.

PERCON

2190 W. 11th Avenue. Eugene, Oregon 97402-3503
(503)344-1189 FAX(503)344-1399

©1989 Percon. inc. PERCON. IB.M. DEC and -Apple Macintosh are trademari(S.

Circle 201 on Reader Service Card

Circle 282 on Reader Service Card NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 433

Circle 81 on Reader Service Card

dBASE Data Entry

The TransTerm 5 is a work station data entry/display terminal for on-line
shop floor data collection into PC/AT based systems. The unit is one of a
family of such terminals which feature LC displays for operator prompting and
data entry via a membrane keyboard or an optional barcode wand (Code 39).
A multi-terminal polling controller (up to 250 stations) and a dBASE 111 +
compatible software package are also available. System costs below
$300.00 per station. Call for info.

Options— backlighting lor display. RS-422 10. 20 Ma current loop 10.
dBASE IS a registered trademark of Astiton-Tate. Inc.

CD^PUTfPi¥i5f.,Nc

302 N. Winchester • Olathe, KS 66062 • 91 3-829-0600 • Fax 91 3-829-081 0

2,168
IBM PROGRAMS
FREE.

■ Here in the BIX community, you can download your choice
of 2,168 programs developed for IBM PCs and their compatibles.
You can attend dozens of informative and provocative con-
ferences, too. All this and more is yours in the IBM Exchange,
with your subscription to BIX. Call our special Customer Service
number for more information: 1-800-227-2983 (in NH, call
603-924-7681).

El\

BYTE BACK ISSUES FOR SALE

1987 1988 1989 1990 Rates (postage and handling included):

Issues
Available

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March
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July
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BYTE '83-'84 Index $4.00

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please refer to Back Issue order form in International Advertising section of book.

Please indicate whicli issues you would like by checking (>^) the boxes.
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All orders must be prepaid. Please allow four weeks for delivery.

434 BYTE* NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 353 on Reader Service Card

TREND 386SX/16 COMPUTER SYSTEM 60 MG Hord Drive/ 14" Monitor

• 14" VGA Paper White Monitor

• VGA Board w/ 256

• Phoenix Bios.

• 1MG On/Bd Memory

• 1.2 Floppy Drive

• 60MB RLL Hard Drive

• 2 Serial Ports

• 2 Parallel Ports

• 1 Game Port

» 101 -Key Click Keyboard
s 3 Button Mouse

• 3 Year Warranty

SIMM MODULES

lMGx9
1MGx8
256x9
IMG 4x9 -£

100ns
S 58
60
20

80ns
S62
69
22
359

Add S5.00 for SiPP Modules-

COMPAQ

Modules

386/20/20E/25E
DeskPro 286E

1MG
S125

60ns
S80

4MG
$349

HARD DRIVES

KAYLOCK 20MB XT 20MB,

MFM. 3.5 HH. 40ms S215.00

MITSUBISHI 40MB, 5.25 HH,

MFM. 28ms S300.00

MITSUBISHI 60MB, 5.25 HH.

RLL, 28ms $400.00

CONNER 3204 200MB, 3 5 HH,

RLL/IDE, 16ms $900.00

IBM PS/2

S 67.50
159.00

Models 30-286,S0,S0Z,60

512KKit 30F5348
2MBKil 30F5360
Models 70-E61/121,55SX,6SSX
1MB 6450603
Models 70-E61 /121 ,50Z,55SX
2MB 6450604
Model 70-A21
2MB 6450608
Models 55SX,65SX
4MB 34F2933
Model 80-041
1MB 6450375
Models 80-111/121/311/321
2MB 6450379

H.P. LASER JET

OK IMG 2MG 4MG

ll&IID $70 $110 S175 S299
IIP 8. Ill 69 99 159 289

LAPTOP MEMORY

Toshiba 2MG

T3100E S229.00 T3200SX $269.00

11 600 229.00 151 00 245.00

T3100SX 245.00 T5200 245.00

Zenith

Super Sport/286

IMG

S199

4MG
$899

386 MATH

CO-PROCESSORS

16Mhz 20MHz 25MHz 33MHz SX
CYRIX (83D87I

$305 $350 S450 $549 —
II T (3C87)

S305 $50 $450 S549 -
INTEL (80387)

S305 S350 S450 S49 $290

EVEREX

RAM 3000 $ 89.00

0.3 MG. Will back fill to 640K LIM
4.0/052 compatible Expanded and/
or extended uses 256l< D-Ram

RAM 8000 190.00

0-8 MG Supports multttaskmg
EMS 40 and EEMS compatible.
Uses 1 MG D-RAM

D-RAM

All Packages and
SpeecJs Available.

SPECIALS

3S0K Floppy Drives $40.00

Panasonic & Mitsumi XT only DS/DD

Mono VGA Monitor

14" Paper wtiite Tilt & Swivel Base

$95.00

OUR PRICES WILL MEET OR
BEAT THE COMPETITION!

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Terms: Cash, MC or VISA - no surcharge. AMEX only add 4%
handling fee. 20% restocking fee on non-defective returns. We
accept Purchase Orders from Qualified Firms, Universities and
Government Agencies. Prices subject to change.

800-678-2818

WE BUY EXCESS INVENTORY

TREND

SYSTEMS

I N C

No. 9 Exchange Place, Suite 900, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 Telephone: 801/350-9180 Fax: 801/350-9179

Spectacular
Performance.
Now Playing On
9-Track Tape.

OverlaniJ Data subsystems deliver spectacular
performance play after play. Stay for the credits and you'll
see why:

Speed. Overland Data offers subsystems with the fastest
data rates in the industry. There's never a dull moment.

All Star Cast. We offer eight different tape drives by
major manufacturers. And our new TXi controller card
transfers data so fast, it may just steal the show.

Versatile Performance. Exchange data between your
PC's, mainframes and mini's. Use any IBM PC. compatible,
or PS/2. Run under DOS, UNIX, XENIX and PICK. Convert
from EBCDIC to ASCII and back. Backup your hard disk.
And more...

Well Developed Characters. We develop our own
custom software for advanced data transfer, conversion, and
backup.

A Great Supporting Cast. You have all of Overland
Data behind your subsystem. Expert sales and customer
service staff are always ready to help you by phone. We can
deliver to you in 24 hours. We back your tape drive for one
year and your controller card for two years. And your
subsystem comes with a 30-day. money back guarantee that it
will meet your application needs.

All of which means that whenever you play 9-track tape
on an Overland Data subsystem, you're in for a spectacular
performance. To reserve your seat, call us at

1-800-PC9-TRAK

San Diego. CA

1-800-729-8725 • 1-619-571-5555 • FAX 1-619-571-0982 • TELEX 754923 OVERLAND

Circle 269 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 435

Circle 312 on Reader Service Card

Scottsdale Systems — Since 1980 — 1-800-777-2369

COMPUTERS
SCOTTSDALE SYSTEMS

386-SX w/K-B.. Monitor. 1 Meg of RAM S1656

386-33 MHz w/K.B„ Monitor. 4 Meg of RAM $3925

Choice of Fuii Size Desktop Case or Full Size Tower Case
Each Scottsdale Machioe Has a 1 Year Warranty on Parts
& Labor via Overnight Service on Warranteed Products.

Altos W/Xenix SAVE

WYSE 386 25 MHz WYSE 286

1 Year Warranty $3920 Modei2112 $1284

WYSE 386 1 6 MHz 2214 Modei 2116 1351

MATH CO-PROCESSORS save

TERMINALS/MONITORS

WYSE TERMINALS

WY-30 G/A-w/Keytioard $290

WY-50G/A-w/Keyboard 377

WY-60 G/W/A-w/Keyboard . . . 40S
WY-99GTA-w/Keyl)oard

WY-150G/w;A-w/Keyboard
WY-212G/W-w/Keyboard ..
WY Height Adjustable Arm. .

QUME

OVT 101 Plus G/A/W

QVT 119 Plus G/A/W

OVT 203 Plus G/A;W

QVT POT G/A/W

NEC4D/5D 1160/238S

Mitsubishi Diamond Scar . . .528

Seiko 1440 615

..367 Sony 1303/1302/1304. .S77/84S/e«

.95

IBM TERMINALS

IBM 3151 3 Year Warranty ...

Linl< MC5

Altos?

Hitachi Super Scan 1999

Philips 20" Hi-Res 2059

WYSE MONITORS

S316 WY 530G/A 14' Mono . $169

.395 WY 550 AW 14' Mono 179

WY650 12" VGR Color 459

■365 WY 700 W 15' Mono 695

IMTEC

.M5 ImTec 1270/1470 $90/121

.406 ImTec 1430/ 1441V 348/293

. 457 ImTec 1432M 425

KIMTROK ACER

KT-70PC $349 4" Multiscan 438

14- VGA 640x480 349

14" Amber nonglare 129

Authorized Service for WYSE
LEASiNG AVAILABLE

INTERNATIONAL ORDERS WELCOME

PLOTTERS

lOLINE Roland DESKTOP PLOTTERS

ASD/LP3500 $2339 1 Year Warranty

ASO/LP3700 2889 OXY-1100 $895

LP-3700-8 3129 OXY-1200 Electrostatic

LP-4000-1 w/Roii Feed 3579 Paper Hold 1295

LP-4000-8 w/Ron F«ed 3935 DXY-1300 Electrostatic

Vinyl Cutting Machines Paper Hold 1625

Blades S Hot Tips Roland DRAFTING PLOTTERS

HOUSTON INSTRUMENTS 1 Year Warranty

Img Mkr $982 GRX-300AR $3«»5

OMP 52/52 MP 2425/2886 GRX-400 AB 3559

OMP 61/62 2941/3895 Roland FUTBED PLOTTERS

DMP61 DL 3743 1 Year Warranty

0MP62DL 4737 DPX-2500 Pen or Pencil

ENTER w/stand

SP600 $599 DPX-3500 Pen or Pencil

CALCOMP w/stand

1023/1025 $3715/4519 Roland THERMAL PLOTTERS

1043DM/1044 5869/8739 LTX-420

5902/5902A 3819/4275 LTX-320

DM 52224 11.919 LTX-120

HEWLETT PACKARD save Roland CAMM MACHINES

OPTICAL SCANNER* SOFTWARE Softwares Accessories .

Data Copy Authorized Service lor

Panasonic RS-505/506 $1037/1315 Roland Plotters and CAMM Machines

Microtek SAVE UNITED INNOVATIONS

Modei 7000A-CV„ .... 51899

AMT ACCEL 500 Inieiis-Piot $1699 Model 8000A-D . . . 2059

Model 9000A-E 2829

DIGITIZERS ^

KURTA SUMMAGRAPHICS

Lifetime Warranty On Kurta IS-1 Lifetime Limited Warranty

iS-1. 12x12 Cordless 4-button 12x12 Summasketch 11 $356

.$4275
4628

7125
2135

SAVE

cursor, pen stylus and

interface kit H3M

IS-1. 12x17 Cordless 4-button

cursor, pen stylus and

interface kit 629

CALCDMP

CalComp 23120 12x12 $365

Cal Comp 9100 Series save

Cal Comp 9500 Series save

Cal Comp Wiz 165

12x18 Professional .
HITACHI

GENIUS TABLET

12x12 w/Cursor. Stylus S Software
3 Year Warranty on Tablet . . $299

Call For Pricing On
Larger Digitizers

PRINTERS

ALPS Allegro $345

ALPS324E 735

AMT ACCEL 1299

Canon BJ130E 725

Panasonic 1191 237

Panasonic 1180 185

Okidala all models 3

OTC all models »

Genicom all models

Toshiba all models *

Citizen all models ^

Diconix 150P/300P 339

NECP-2200 $315

NECP-5200 506

NECP-5300 K9

NECLC-890 3159

^Authorized Service lor
^^f^'l'riSUttrix

BOARDS 5

Genoa/Intel

Verticom All Models *

BOCA V

VMl/Cobra All Models E

Paradise VGA Plus $289

Paradise Pro! 495

Control Systems/NEC SAVE

Number Nine/Laicomp save

MODEM

U.S. Robotics ail models .. . SAVE
MULTITECH SYSTEMS

All Models SAVE

NOVELL
ARCNET

Coax Slartopology $112

16 Bit Coax $360

TIARA ETHERNET
Lancard/EPC8-Bit 276

TIARA ARCHNET

Lancard/A PC 91

SYNOPTICS
2500/2510 Workgroup CALL

LASER PRINTERS

QUME Apples IBM $3199

H P. Laser 111 1799

Panasonic 4420 1199

Panasonic 4450 1395

LPS 8111 1795

LPB4 959

LAPTOPS

Samsung 286 $2199

Texas Instruments SaVe

IOMEGA

Bernouilli Box

B-120-1 21.4 MB Internal $895

144-1.44 MB Internal 1095

Prices cfo not include interface
ALLOY c
Alloy IMP 2 SIMP 8 Cards "a
Multiware 386 S 286 Versions
Retriever 60 or 200 c

POWER PROTECTION g
DatastiielO

Safe Power Systems y
TrippLife P

TAPE BACKUPS 3
Emerald Systems all models ^
Genoa all models v
Irwin all models p
HARD DRIVES

CDC IMPRIMIS

/ Year Warranty

72 MB thru 600 MB

Maxtor . . SAVE

SOFTWARE
MULTI USER

SCO Xenix 386 510

Concurrent DOS 366 10 User 310
Compulone 4 10 1G Port Boards

All software saies are linal
CALL SERVICE FOR REPAIRS
ON PRINTERS. TERMINALS.

MONITORS. COMPUTERS.

1555 W. University Dr. #101, Tempe, AZ 85281

""K^^ Pnces listed are for cash. Discovery. MasterCard and Visa add l .67°*: AZ residents add 6-1 /2^ti tax: add 3% for C.O.D.: add 5% for P.O. Inlemational orders welcome. All items are new with manufacturer's warranty.
\^ ^/ Returned products subject to 20% restocking fee and in new condition in oftginal packaging, with all warranty cards, rnanuals and cables.

compalability. Personal and company checks lake up to 5 days to clear Pnces and specifications subject to change. Product subject to availability: all appiicabte trademarks recognized and on file

602-966-8609

SERVICES (Mon.-Fri.).602-731-4742

FAX 602-966-8634

^ "ParlezAX)us Q-TET?"

Oui. . .Si. . .Ja. . .now the answer

is Yes wherever you go internationaliy-thanks to our new Q-TEL International Database.

Q-TEL speaks everyone's language when you're talking about one single source of tele-
communications rate, tariff and regulator\' information. Domestically you've already seen
how our Q-TEL Databases (Q-TEL 1000, Q-TEL 5000 Plus, Q-TEL 7000 and Q-TEL 9000)
can define a better bottom line for you. Now watch how the newest Q-TEL database
translates into maximum cost savings for you internationally

M our Q-TEL products have superior performance packaging, adapting easily to your
applications with the most current and accurate rate, tariff and regulatory information to keep
you updated and on top of industry activit}'.

So why not parlay our advanced telecommunications capabilities into a unique profit
opportunit}' for you. Remember, whatever your role in telecommunications-manufacturer,
seller, user of equipment or services-you also get our 20 years of
telecommunications experience, backed bv die information network
of McGraw-Hill. Parlez with us todav..Call: 1-800-526-5307 ext.: 290

First-Rate Information

436 BY

T E • NOVEMBER 1990

A-BUS

New Products

Alpha Products proudly announces two new
product lines: C-Net serial communications
devices, and Alpha Box interfaces. These
new products are not merely A-Bus
accessories, but complete sets of products
for all of your interfacing needs.

All the products are used to connect different
types of devices to your computer. Our
communications devices help you connect
devices that have computer interfaces
already built in. C-Net provides the option of
connecting many different RS-232 devices
to a single serial port on your computer. We
also carry converters to other standards,
including RS-422, RS-485 and IEEE-488.

• C Net Adapter. Connects the master control
computer to C-Net. $74

• Quad C-Net Module: Connect 4 RS-232
serial devices to C-Net. Each device is
configurable (baud rate, parity, etc.) and has
4.8K byte input and output buffers. $695

• C-Net Device Module: Connect any RS-
232 Device to C-Net for data collection or
communication, with handshaking. $195

Alpha Boxes and A-Bus cards both provide
ways to interface other types of devices to
your computer. Alpha Boxes sense,
measure, switch and govern. They feature:
' Each box is an attractively packaged self
contained module that connects directly to
the computer and includes power supply.

• The input boxes offer the option of logging
data "off-line" and downloading it rapidly to
the computer.

• Built-in intelligence provides a simple and
consistent interface to your software.

A Sampling of Alpha Box Products:

• Digital Input: 64 TTL7CMOS/0,5V input
channels. $495

• Digital Output: 64 TTL7CMOS/0,5V level
outputs. $495. 120VAC control available.

• Digital I/O: 32 TTL Level (0.5V) Inputs and
32 Outputs. $495

• Analog Input: 16 channels. 0-5.1 V, 20mV
steps (8 bit). 2000 readings/sec. $495.
Expansion Option: 16 more channels. $100

• 12 Bit Analog Input: 16 channels,
programmable gain. 10000 inputs/sec. max.
$995. Option: 16 more inputs. $200

• Analog Output: 4 channel, 12 bit D/A. ±5.1 V
outputs. $495. Expander Option: 12 more
outputs. $200

• Counter: 16 inputs, 24 bit. $595

"We can make your PC do
things you wouldn't believe."

C' From Your PC

• Command

• Control

• Communications

Bring new dimensions to your computer with
A-Bus, C-Net and Alpha Boxes. No longer is
your computer limited to number crunching
or word processing. Now you can connect to
all types of equipment, sensors or machines.
This offers unprecedented power from pro-
duction lines to experiments to home control.

Each product is designed to fit your needs:
They're affordable. Compare our prices: the
cost of a solution is surprisingly low.
They're simple and easy to connect to your
computer and your application, and carefully
designed to adapt to your software easily.
They're versatile. An infinite number of
combinations is possible; one of them is right
for you. Easily expanded or changed for
future projects.

They're proven by customers around the
world, including Fortune 100 companies,
universities, governments and individuals.

Caii for a Cataiog (800) 221-0916

Overseas distributors

Asia: Batam DA. Singapore

Tel: 473-4518 Fax:479-6496

Japan: Japan Crescent

Tel: 03-824-7449 Fax:03-818-8914
Scandinavia: A/S Con-Trade Norway
Tel: (04) 41 83 51 Fax: (04) 41 94 72

Spain: Arteca S.C.P.

Tel: (93) 423.77.05 Fax: (93) 325.70.16

Low Cost
Data Acquisition
and Control

A-Bus Sensing & Measuring:

Read switch status. Detect or measure
voltage. Read pressure, temperature, weight
and other sensors. For example:

• High-Speed 12-bit A/D converter: 8 10^;s
analog inputs. 1 mV resolution $179

• 8 Bit A/D: 8 inputs, 0-5.1 V in 20mV steps,
7500 conversions/sec. $142

• 1 2 Bit A/D: ±4V in 1 mV steps, 1 30mS
conversion time. 1 input, expandable $153

• Temperature Sensor: 0-200°F 1°
Accuracy. 10mV/°F. $12

• Digital Input: 8 opto-isolated. Read voltage
presence.switch closure. $65

• Latched Input: Each individually latched to
catch switch closures or alarm loops. $85

• Touch Tone Decoder: $87

• Counter/Timer: 3 16-bit counters. Generate
or count pulses. Time events. $132

• Clock with Alarm: real time clock with
calendar and battery backup. $98

A-Bus Switching & Governing:

Switch any type of electrical device. Adjust
level or position. A sampling:

• Relay Card: 8 individually controlled
industrial relays. 3A at 120VAC. SPST. $142

• Digital Output Driver: 8 outputs: 250mA at
12V. For relays, solenoids... $78

• Reed Relay Card: 8 individually controlled
relays. 20mA @ 60VDC. SPST. $109

• Multiplexer: Swrtch up to 32 channels to a
single common. $83

• Smart Stepper Motor Control: Micropro-
cessor controls 4 motors. English commands
for position, speed, units, limits, etc. $299

• Telephone Control Card: On/off hook,
generate and decode touch tones, call
progress detection. $159

• X-10 Controller: Control and sense
standard wall outlet power modules. $149

• Voice Synthesizer: Unlimited vocabulary,
text to speech software built in. $159

' D/A: Four 8 BK Outputs. Adjustable full
scale. $149

• 24 line TTL I/O: Connect 24 signal, TTL
0/5V levels or switches. (8255A) $72

A Bu8 Adapters and Software:

Adapters connect A-Bus cards to your
particular computer.

• Plug-in adapters for IBM PC/XT/AT/386 and
compatibles ($69), Micro-Channel ($93).
Apple II, Commodore, TRS-80.

' Serial adapters for Mac, PC, etc.

• Odin PC compatible software. Control
relays from analog inputs or time schedules.
Logging. Runs in background. $129

^ ALPHA [p[r®(^lw(mm

242-B West Ave, Darien, CT 06820 USA (203) 656-1 806 Fax 203 656 0756

Circle Hon Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 437

ESTA BLISHED 1976
ORDER DIVISION

^^^\/\/^ MAIL OR

Computer Memory
and Peripherals

We Accept Purchase Orders from Qualified Firms,
Universities and Government Agencies

FROM ANYWHERE IN THE U.S.,
CANADA, PUERTO RICO AND
THE VIRGIN ISLANDS.

l-(800)-533-0055

We Accept International Orders
with fast delivery via DHL, Federal Express, Air Mall
INTERNATIONAL ORDERS: (714) 251-8689

150ns

120ns

lOOns

80ns

70ns

60ns

4MGX9

S365

S385

S415

1MGX9

S60

S65

S69

S79

S90

1MGX8

S50

S55

S62

256X8

SI 6

S24

S29

256X9

SI 8

S20

S24

S33

AM

150ns

120ns

100ns

80ns

70ns

60ns

1MGX1

S5.50

S6.00

S6.50

S7.00

S9.00

256X1

S1.80

S2.00

S2.25

S2.75

S3.25

S3.75

256X4

S5.50

S6.50

S7.00

64X1

SI. 00

SI .85

S2.49

64X4

S2.25

S2.50

S2.75

S3.50

256 X 4 Static Col

SI 0.00

S1 1.00

256 X 1 Static Col

S2.25

S3.00

S4.25

286 MATH CU-PKUCESSUKS i^^H

6MH2

8MHz

10MHz

12MHz

12.5MHz

20MHz

ill (2C87)

SI 83

S208

$280

$324

INTEL (80287)

SI 20

SI 83

S208

S280

MONTHLY
SPECIALS

HEWLETT-
PACKARD

2P &3

■9K $79

1MG $100

2MG $169

4MG $299

QTY PRICING
AVAILABLE

2&2D

■9K $89

IMG $135

2MG $169

4MG $305

8088 MATH CO-PROCESSORS

INTEL (8087)

5MHz

8MHz

$115

10MHz

SI 65

386 MATH CO-PROCESSORS

16MHz ?nMH7 I PfiMH? I ,'^3MH7 I SX

CYRIX (83D87)

IIT

i3C87)

INTEL (80387)

S305

$305 S350

S350

S450

S450

S549

S549

3305 S350

8450

S549

3290

EPSON LASER
PRINTER

Memory Upgrade (or
MorJel LP6000

IMG $299

2MG $399

4MG $529

CANON. FACIT.
FUJITSU AND
TOSHIBA ALSO AVAIL

IBM LASER
PRINTER

Memory Upgrade for
Model 4019. 4019E

IMG $299

2MG $399

3.5MG $529

PS-2 PRODUCT

MODEL 70&80 SIMM

34F2933 ■ 4MG Memory Module forSSSX: 65SX
Memory Option IBM P/N 34F3077:34F301 1 S469

6450372 - 2MG Module for 6450367 S309

6450375 -IMG Memory Bd for 80-041 S139

6450379 ■ 2MG Memory Bd.for 80-1 1 1 ;31 1-121 :
321 S249

6450603 - 1 MG Module for 70-E61 ;-1 21 . Adaptor
Board IBM P/N 6450605. 6450609, 34F301 1 &
34F3077 $95

6450604 - 2MG Module tor 70-061 :E61:-

121.50Z:55SX:65SX;P70

Adaptor Board IBM P/N 6450605, 6450609 .
34F3011 a34F3077 S185

'10 or more units S175

6450608 for Model 70A21 . A61 . B-21 . B61 ....S1 85
6451060 - 4MG Memor,' Bd.for 80-A21 :-A31 S559

PRINTERS

CmZEN

120D SI 39

180 D S299

GSX 140 S299

GSX 200 GX Color $199

HSP500 S329

HSP550 S449

PANASONIC

MODEL 30-286SIMM

IMG X 9 - icons $75

30F5360(Kit-2ea) $150

256 X 9 ■ 120ns $28

30F5348 ^11-263) $56

:J4:^;;j!i-iM!l=WJ.I>^l

6450605- ■. =MG Expands 10 6M0 $499

1497259 2'.1G Expands to 8MG $499

34F3011 - .■. -MG Expands 10 16MG $749

PTOP MEMORY

2MG Card-Toshiba Portable Tl2Ct0e S445

2MG Card-Toshiba Ponable Tl 600 S275

2MG Card-Toshiba Ponable T3100SX ?275

4WG Card-Toshiba Portable T3100SX S625

512K Card-Toshiba Portable T31D0e s''^^

2WG Card-Toshiba Portable T3l00e $269

2MG Card- Toshiba Ponable T3200SX §299

4MG Card-Toshiba Portable T3200SX $699

3MG Card- Toshiba Portable T3200 1^29

2UG Card-Toshiba PortaWe T5100 X^'^S

2MG Module-Toshiba Portable T5200 §275

2MG Module-Toshiba Desktop T8500 $349

■ ! M ■ ' B d !i I ri ? I iic^tyj ; I J I giga

MARS 105 PLUS 5-1 naif tone levels (dithered),
scan ki! s. : Ssme size phniing 2) Pixii

Editing 3) EMS Support ■;) Quick Merge.
Features: I) 105 MM (4.13") scannir>g width 21
Selectable 400 300'200'100 DPI 3) ISO.OOO dots per
inch area resolution 4) 3 8 X 8 halftone patterns, 1 line
an

Includes PC Paint Brush and Cat Reader
Software(Marstek Version)

MARS 800 SCANNER 8OO dpi. 64 Shades ot
Gray. Inverse Mode, Resolution 6400 dot-in squared,
12 halftone patterns. a^n-m
ONLY $278

RAMvantage!

tot 286 AT Systems.
Split f^iemory
Addressing- Does
Bai*fill to 640K and
extended memory
up to 3MG. Uses
256 D RAM.
SuperPak Software
only...$69

SIX PAK 286

Up to 4 MB SMS 4.0
extended and'or
expanded memory
and does backtill to

640K. 1 serial .1
par.port avail. For AT
S compatibles- Uses

256K ortMG
SIMMs. Headroom
TSR Memory
Management
Software included.

with OK $119

wtth512K $159

with4MG $399

RAMPAGE
PLUS 286

Up 10 8MG Expanded
Memory - Uses 256 x
9ortMGx9SIMM.
Supports LIM4.0 and
OS/2 -Up I0 12-5MHZ
bus for AT (16 bit bus)

with OK $319

wHh 2MG -.$489

MEMORY EXPANSION BOARDS

BOCA RESEARCH '

I

COMPAQ MEMORY

386/20/20E/25/25E
DESK PRO 286E,386S

S129

386/33. 486/25
a SYSTEM PRO

3269

Si 695 S7900

MEMORY EXPANSION B

MODEL 512K 1MG 2MG

OAR[

4MG

)S

SMG

386/16

S325

8495

$799

S1299

3S6/20E.25E
3S6S

S209

S529

Portable 386

S895

Portable LTE

S139

SI 69

S299

SLT.'286

$199

$999

MEMORY UPGRADE KIT

MODEL 51 2K 2HG

5

4MG

= -.-.?.z i ; S70 S178

S499

ORCHID

expandable lo 32MG. for IBM PCs. XTs, ATs,
PS.'2 Model 30-286 as well as compatibles.
Supports both 8 and 16 bit bus. Uses 256K.
IMG or 4MG Modules, w/ OK $269

RAMQUEST EXTRA 1 6/32The only e-8MG,
e wait state card for PS/2 mod 50. 60, S 80
whicfi fully supports both 1 6 and 32-bit memory
access, includes 1 SER and 1 PAR pori plus
free serial cable. EMS 4.0 and OS/2 compatible.
Uses 256k and/Of i MG SIMMS S299

ACCELERATORS

TINY TURBO 286 Low cost, nigh speed, half slot
PC.-XT - Accelerates your PCXT with a 8MHz 80236
microprocessor. 60287 math chip socket $229

TINYTURBOXT High speed half slot accele-
rator for PC XT - Accelerates your PC/XT up to ^
times faster with a 1 2 MHz 80286 micropfocessor.
80287 Math chip socket $259

D-RAM TESTERS

UNI-002RT S1 49.95

Tests speed plus parameters

UNI-003RT S1 99.95

Tests standard SIMM Modules
256 X 8, 256 X 9. 1 MG X 9. 1 MG X8

CALL FOR OTHER OPTIONS AVAILABLE

VIDEO ADAPTERS

BOCA RESEARCH

1024 VGA 1024 X 768 in 16 simultaneous
colors. 640/480 in 256 colors. 132 col X 50-
43.25. 1024 X 768 - 800.'600 drivers 132 col
SI 59

SUPER VGA 800 X 600 Resolution; 256K
RAM,' 8 or 16 bit- 132 col X 50.43.25 LIM
Drivers/ 800 X 600 drivers for Windows. Auto
CAD $109

VGA 540 X 480 Resolution/ 256K RAM. 8 on 6
bit S99

Multi EGA 640 X 480 Resolution on multiple
frequency monitors- 640 X 480 ^ 752 X 410/
256K RAM/Drivers for Auto CAD. Windows and
Lotus S89

ATI TECHNOLOGIES

VGA WONDER 256™(256K video memory,
user upgradable) Same as VGA wonder 51 2"^'.
except with 800x600 In 1 6 colors and 1024x768
in 4 colors. Includes Microsoft comp|^i^^e

EGA CARD 640 X 480. 16 color, EQA'MGA
CQA'Hercules S89

VGA CARD 1024X768, 16 color.VG A EGA
MGACGA S1 19

MONO CARD w/parallel port $25

CGA CARD w-/parallel port $25

SOFTWARE

DOS 3-3'GW BASIC $59

DOS 4.0,'GW BASIC $65

PAINT BRUSH $39

TOPHAT - Does backfill conventional memory
from 512 to 640K on AT/ with OK $6Ef

TOPHAT II - Same as ToptiAT/ with 128K $85

BOCARAM/XT Provides up to 2MG of expanded
memory for 8 bit bus. Operates up to 1 2 MHz ■

Uses 256K D-RAM/ with BK S109

with512K SI 69

BOCARAM/AT Provides up to 2MG LIM EMS4.0
and/or 4MG of extended, expanded or backfill
memory. For 1 6 bit bus. Operates up to 1 6MHz.

Uses 256K D-RAM/With 9K S109

with512K S169

BOCARAM/AT PLUS Provides up to SMG of
extended, expanded or backfill memory.
Operates up to 33MHz and is set thru software.

Uses 1 MG D-RAM/ withSK S129

with2MG S299

BOCARAM/AT I/O PLUS Provides up to4MG of
extended- expanded or backfill memory-For 1 6
bit bus- Operates up to 33 MHz and is set thru
software- Has serial and parallel port. Uses

IMG D-RAM/ withSK S165

with 2MQ S319

BOCARAM 30 Provides up to 2MG of
expanded memory for IBM PS,'2 model 25. 30
and 8.bit bus PC that utilize 3.5 in. floppy disks.

Uses 256K D-RAM' with 6K S149

with2MG S289

BOCARAM 50Z Provides up to 2MG. 0 wait
state, expanded or extended memory for IBM
PS/2 model 50. 50Z,60. Uses 1 MG D-RAM/

withBK SI 60

with2MG S299

BOCARAM 50/60 Provides up to 4MG
expanded, extended or backfill memory for PS/
2 model 50. 60. Uses IMG D-RAM/

with9K SI 60

with2MG S299

I/O XT 02 41 For 8-bit bus. Has clock, parallel
port, serial port, and optional 2nd serial port.$49

I/O AT For 16.bit bus. Has parallel port, serial
port, and optional 2nd serial port $69

I/O SER 2 Add 2nd serial port, to I/O AT or L'O
XT $15.95

BOCA MCA PARALLEL CARD Adds 1
parallel port to PS'2 System $69

BOCA MCA SERIAL/PARALLEL
CARD Adds 2 serial and 1 parallel port to
PS 2 System $119

EVEREX

RAM 3000 DELUXE Up to SMG. Selectable
memory addresses, Expanded Memory
Specifications (EMS) 4.0 .' OS '2. Can be used
to backfill base memory up to 640K and the rest
as expanded and/or extended memory. Uses

256K D-RAM $99

With512K $139

RAM 8000 Up to 8MG capacity/support to
base, extended or expanded memory in any
combination. Fully compatible with Lotus. Intel,
Microsoft. EMS 4.0. EEMS. Supports Multi-
Tasking and DMA Multi-Tasking in hardware.
Software configurable (no dip switches to set).
Full 1 6MG window for future expansion . Zero
wait state, uses IMGD-RAM $239

RAM 1 0000 Up to 1 0MG capacity/support to
base, extended or expanded memory in any
combination. Compatible with Lotus. Intel.
Microsoft. EMS4.Q. Operates with no additional
wait states. Uses IMG D-RAM $159

UNITEX

DPI 3 BUTTON MOUSE -Microsoft Corri-
patible w.'software included $35

384 Multifunction Card $89

for PC XTExpands to 384K-SER'PAR,CLK,
Game port. Uses 64K DRAM

MARSTEK 3 BUTTON MOUSE

>' Microsoft/Mouse Systems Compatable
: Adjustable DPI up to 1 280 (software)

SOFTWARE INCLUDED...

$39

Retail Office
1025 E. Twain
Las Vegas. NV 89109
Phone: (702) 732-8689
FAX: (702) 732-0390

1-(80q)-843-8414

Mon - Fri Sam - 6pm
Sat Sam - 2pm

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

No surcharge for MC or VISA
Temis: MC ■ VISA • COO ■ CASH • AMEX add 4%
Purchase Orders from qualified firms.
20% restocking fee on non-detecfive reiurns.
Prices subject to change.

SEND ALL MAIL ORDERS TO

P.O. Box 19772
Irvine, OA 92713

Mail Order Division & Retail Store

17222 Armstrong Ave. • Irvine, CA 92714
Phone: (714) 251-UNTX(251-8 6 8 9)
Fax: (71 4) 251-8943

1-(800)-533-0055

Men - Fri 7am • 5pm
Sat Sam ■ 2pm

x5\

Initex, Inc

ESTA BLISHED 1976
MAIL ORDER DIVISION

Computer Systems
and Hardware

We Accept Purchase Orders from Qualified Firms,
Universities and Government Agencies

FROM ANYWHERE IN THE U.S.
CANADA, PUERTO RICO AND
THE VIRGIN ISLANDS.

l-(800)-533-0055

CALL for pricing on additional
FLOPPY DISK DRIVES, HARD DISK DRIVES,
PRINTERS AND MONITORS

Check Out these Great
Computer Systems Buys !!

SPECIALS

DPI Mouse

3-Button Mouse
with Selectable
Sensitivity
Software Included

$35

200MB Hard
Drives

Conner 3204

$899

Rodime
R03259A

$825

360K Floppy
Drives

Panasonic &
Mitsumi
XT Only DS/DD

$39

Mono VGA
Monitor

14" Paper White,
Tilt & Swivel Base

$99 ea.

$89-10 or more

HARD DRIVES

MODEMS

KALOCK 20MB XT 20MB,MFM,3.5 HH,40ms $225

MITSUBISHI 40MB.5.25HH.MFM, 28ms $319

MITSUBISHI 60MB,5.25HH.RLL, 28ms $419

CONNER 3204 200MB,3.5HH,RLL/IDE,16ms $899

RODIME R03259A 200MB, 3.5HH, IDE $825

Intemal 1200 BAUD $69

Internal 2400 BAUD $129

Internal 2400 BAUD w/MNP 5 $169

External 2400 BAUD w/MNP 5 $199

Dnitex (HAYES compatibles)

Internal 1200 BAUD $59

External 1200 BAUD $99

Internal 2400BAUD $69

External 2400 BAUD $129

FAX BOARDS

• ■ 1 1 Wow works with

Calculus EZ-FAX Windows 3.0!

The most Highly functional. Fully loaded. Cost effective FAX board
manufactured.
CCm Group III

Provides fullyconcurrent background operation. Allows userto transmit, receive
and view documents on screen . Once in memory, the transmissions may be
edited (or retransmission, printed, stored for future, or discarded off your hard
drive. SOFTWARE INCLUDED

C,\L OOIFX (4800 baud) Unitex Price $1 89

CAL 002FX (9600 baud) Unitex Price $269

ZOLTRIX 96/24 9600baud.send/feceivefaxcardwith2400baudmodem.
SOFTWARE INCLUDED- „ „ $239

SCANNERS

LOGITECH SCAN MAN Compatible with the Calculus EZ- FAX.
Scan man is a 1-400 Multi-Resolution Scanner, Real time screen image
generation while scanning. Using this hand scanner makes faxing your scanned
images a simple wave of the hand. Aonrt
CAL OOZBL INCLUDES CALCULUS EZ-FAX !}>009

DEST PERSONAL SCAN Combinestwo of tfiebestscanning platforms
into one, compact unit. Full page hand held and ten page sheet feed scanning
in one device. Perfonn "free-hand' scanning with the full page hand held
unit-tx)oks, maps, technical documents, oddly-shapped originals are easily
scanned. Place the hand held unit into the feeder base and automatically scan
up to ten pages al a time, within seconds.

The DEST Personal Scanned comes bundles with Recognize!, □EST'scritically
acdaimed omnifont optical cfiaracler recognition {OCR) software. Together
these innovative products offer the most cost effective, high accuracy OCR
solution available for the P.C.

300 dpi resolution. Halftone scanning with 64 levels of gray $649

UNITEX COMPUTER SYSTEMS

WITH FULL 1 YEAR WARRANTY

The New 386 Personal Computer Systems from Unitex have some
incredible features that outperform machines that cost hundreds of dollars
more! We have the configuration with exactly the options you want.

TLLSYSTEMriNCUJDFDoTsIs^^

UNITEX 386 SX/i 6

I 14" VGA Paper While Monitor ■
I Phoenix Bios. ■
I IMG on Board Memory (expandable to 8) ■
I 1.2MB Floppy Drive ■
I 2 EA. Serial and Parallel Ports ■

1 Game Port
101 -Key Click Keyboard
3 Button Mouse included
Supports E MS/LIM 4.0
Has Mathco Socket

INCLUDES
60 MB HD

INCLUDES 60MB RLL HARD DRIVE

OUR PRICE

$1295

UNITEX-386-20

■ 20MHz

■ 1 MG RAM (expandable to 8 MB)

■ 1 .2MB Floppy Drive

■ Fast IDE 1.1 hard/floppy drive controller

200 Watt Power Supply
FCC Class B approved
101 keyboard
Supports E MS/LIM 4.0
Has Mathco Socket

OUR PRICE

$899

UNITEX-386-25

25MHz

1 MG RAM (expandable to 8 MB)
1.2MB Floppy Drive
Fast IDE 1.1 hard/floppy drive controller

I 200 Watt PovKer Supply
I FCC Class B approved
I 101 Keyboard
I Supports EMS/LI M 4.0
Has Mathco Socket

AVAIL. WITH
64K CACHE

I

OUR PRICE

$1199

UNITEX-386-33

■ 33MHz

■ 1MG RAM (expandable to 8 MB)

■ 1 .2MB Floppy Drive

■ FastlDEI.1 hard/floppy drive controller

■ 200 Watt Power Supply

FCC Class B approved
101 keyboard
Supports E MS/LIM 4.0
Has Mathco Socket

INCLUDES

64K CACHE

)

OUR PRICE

$1899

VENDEX HEADSTART 286/1 2MHz COMPUTER SYSTEM

m 12mhz Motherboard

■ 80287 Math Co-processor Socket

■ Switchable Speed

■ 8 Expansion Slots

■ 1MB RAM

■ 1.1 IDE FD/HD Controller

■ 1.2MB Floppy Drive

1 YEAR WARRANTY

m 2 Parallel Printer Port

■ 1 Serial Port (RS-232 Interface)

■ 1 01 -Key Enhanced Keyboard

■ DOS 3.3 & GW Basic

■ 200 Watt Power Supply

■ FCC Class B approved

■ Award BIOS
MADE BY SAMSUNG

OUR PRICE

$579

SYSTEM OPTIONS (Add-ons to systems only)

FLOPPY DRIVES

\ 360K $60

% 720K $75

V 1 .2MB $79

^ 1.44MB(3.5")....$89

MONITORS

\ 12" Amber w/tilt and

swivel base $79

^ 1 4" Paper w/tilt and

swivel base $99

\ EGA Color $299

\ VGA Color $319

\ Super VGA color $41 9

VIDEO CARDS

\ Monochrome(720X) or
Color Graphics(320X)

with parallel port $25

V Boca EGA $89

\ Boca VGA $99

^ Boca Super VGA..S109
N ATI-VGA Wonder.$279

CASES

\ Baby SI 00

V Mini Tower $1 GO

\ Full Size Tower.. $150

POWER SUPP.

\ XT 200W S30

\ AT 230W $30

MOUSE

\ 2 Button $19

N 3 Button $35

(Includes Software)

Retail Office

1025 E. Twain
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Phone: (702) 732-8689
FAX: (702) 732-0390

1-(800)-843-8414

Mon - Fri Sam - 6pm
Sat Sam • 2pm

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Terms: Cash - MC or VISA ■ no surcharge

AMEX onfy add 4% har»dlir>g fee
COD, Purchase Orders from qualified fimns.
20% restocking fee on non-defective returns.
Prices subject to change.

SEND ALL MAIL ORDERS TO

P.O. Box 19772
Irvine, CA 92713

Mail Order Division & Retail Store

17222 Armstrong Ave. • Irvine. CA 92714
Phone: (714) 251-UNTX(251-8 6 8 9)
Fax: (71 4) 251-8943

1-(800)-533-0055

Mon - Fri 7am ■ 5pm
Sat Sam - 2pm

TM

'Ogives you all the C
language routines you
need to write an impres-
sive scientific graphing
program of your own.
Highly recommended."^"
- PC Magazine

IBM® PC (with source code) $395

Circle 309 on Reader Service Card

Macintosh® (no source code) $295

Circle 310 on Reader Service Card

Licensed for personal use only

mmfw

DEC® VT220/1 02/52
& Tektronix®
4010/4014/4105

Terminal Emulator
for IBM® PCs

Circle 311 on Reader Service Card

VTEK-HP has added full
VT220 emulation to VTEK

New High Performance features:

TIFF export

Color PostScript® and viewable EPS
HP-GU2™ and PaintJet XL™ support

""^ Full national character set support

""^ Telephone dialer

faster and uses less memory

'I* requires '286 or '386 and VGA/EGA

VTEK-/yP$245 VTEK $195

Scientific Endeavors

508 North Kentucky Street
Kingston, TN 37763 USA

(615)376-4146 FAX:(61 5) 376-1571

QUARTERHORSE

High Capacity
Tape Subsystems

for Disk Backup, Data Acquisition, and
Archiving

Everything you need in a single, high-quaiity
pacl<age: Drive, SCSI Host Adapter, Enclosure,
and DSI's Backup Software.

• 320/520 Mb 1/4" CI . , . . Si, 495

• 1.2 Gb 4mm DAT s3,195

• 2.3 Gb 8mm HS s3,695

New: 450 Mb 3480 CT . . . . $4,295
Optional Application interface Libraiy
(in "C") available. Full Support.

Terms: U.S.-Vlsa,COD,pre-appvd. credit.
Other: Prepaid wire transfer, Inter-
national letter ol credit.

DATA STRATEGIES
INTERNATIONAL, INC.

9020 Capitol of TX Hwy.Se. 420, Austin, TX 78759
(512)338-1745 FAX(6I2)34S-1328

Circle 97 on Reader Service Card

PC Communications
Coprocessors

mm «M>

Our communications coprocessors offload serial and
parallel communications tasks from PCs used in
dedicated applications. RS232 and RS485 style
communications. Easily programmed using C. A
memory mapped interface to the host PC allows high
speed data transfer and simple buffer schemes.
From 64k to 51 2kot memory local to the coprocessor
but accessible from the host PC. Used in many in-
dustrial and business systems to dramatically im-
prove performance compared to standard PC serial
port implementations.

Z-World Engineering

1 340 Covell Blvd., Davis, CA 9561 6
(916) 753-3722

Fax: (916) 753-5141

Circle 380 on Reader Service Card

9 Track Tape Subsystem
for PC/XT/AT/386/PS2

$1995 for 1600/3200 BPI
$4995 for 1600/6250 BPI
$6995 for 800/1600/3200/6250 BPI
CALL 1-800-289-4TAPE

Laguna Conversion Systems

1401 South Pacific Coast Highway
Laguna Beach, CA 92651

9-Track Tape Subsystem

for the IBM PC/XT/AT

Now you can exchange data files between
your IBM PC and any mainframe or mini-
computer using IBM compatible 1600 or 6250
BPI 9-Track tape. System can also be used for
disk backup. Transfer rate is up to 4
megabytes per minute on PCs and com-
patibles. Subsystems include 7" or IOV2"
streaming tape drive, tape coupler card and
DOS compatible softu-are. For more informa-
tion, call us today!

nUfJLSTfJRl

9621 Irondale Ave., Chatsworth, CA 91311
Telephone: (818) 882-5822

Circle 294 on Reader Service Card

Little Giant"

C Programmable Controller

This shirt pocket
sized computer
interfaces directly
to the outside
world. Use it to
control anything.
Instantly program-
mable using your
PC with Dynamic
C. ROM and bat-
tery backed RAM to 1024k bytes. 8 Channel, 10/
12 bit, A/D with conditioning. High voltage and
current drivers. Battery backed time and date
clock. Watchdog and power fail, 4 serial channels.
24 parallel I/O lines. Timers. Integral power supply.
Terminations for field wiring. Expansion connec-
tor. Plastic or metal field packaging available.
OEM versions from SI 99.00.

Z-World Engineering

1340 Covell Blvd., Davis, CA 95616

(916) 753-3722

Fax: (916) 753-5141

Circle 381 on Reader Service Card

Introducing

ITR VISION
a Software
00

'695

Special Offer

The Software Solution
To Image Compression

• IBM Compatible MS-DOS 3,0 or Higher

• Uses EMS 3,2 or above to Handle
Large Images

• Variable Compression-Up to half a bit
per pixel

• No Extra Hardware Needed

• Uses Higfi Resolution TGA Files

• Includes Proposed JPEG Standard
Compression Modes

CALL NOW TO ORDER

1-800-966-4487

MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED

440 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 198 on Reader Service Card

Circle 186 on Reader Service Card

in

SOFTWARE

ACCOUNTING IMICE&ACCES.

DACEasy
[5aC Easy B

If4
S78

$129
SI 29
S129

: Easy Bonus pack 4

DAC Pavroil
Dollars S Sense (3.Tj
w'Forecasi
GREAT AMERICAN:
One Wriie Plus
AccounB Payable
AccounS Receivabe
Payrol

JK Lasser Income Tax $43
Money Matters SA7
Peacntree 111 SU'
Peacltree DWe Bonis BnsS S210
Proftwse Bus, 10 pak S138
ProfitwiseiSolorTon repofi
S graph S108
OuiAen 3.0 S33
Tobias Manaong your
Money 16.01^'
Tobias Tax Cut
Tobias Manajng Yajr S
TuriMTax
Wealth Builber
Turt» Tax Professional

Masterpiece

MS BuaSenal Mouse
w/Windows 1
Omni Mouse II Bus wPalnt
OfTini Mouse II Sena! w.'Pant
MSBusfiessSPaa :
PC Tra* Ban Senal
w.'Maocian

SumrraSketcti 1112x12

INTEGRATIIVE

Frarr.eworkill
MSWofiis
PFS: Firsl Ctxjce
SrnarWare II w./Spell

SlOS

sns

S37

SONY DISKS

3 5'H;^Ct"S'^1W

5 25" Hi* DenSitv 100

DESKTOP PUB ■ WORD PROG.

1

S467
S104

aintonsh IV plus . .
Pefforrr wiTteSigner & filer S154

Printshop 534

Pub/sfi It S105

Publishefs Paintbrush %^58

Ventura PuUshmg $496

Ventura Pro Extension $388

Arts S Letters £0 SCaB

AuKxJe* Animator S198
Dan Brcklin's Page Garden S65
Corporate Ladder

Draw Per'ec: S262

GokrK S115

Go&TKPijs 5175

CAD & ENG.

Deson6AD2D

De9QnCAD3D

DrafS Uttra

Gen eric CADLevelS

Gen eric CAD3D drafting

Math CAD

Turbo CAD

MS Wort

MS Wort Companon
MS Wort for Wnflows
MS Wort forWndows

i^?1^essonal Wnie
Voksivrileri
Vpkswnief De^jxe Rus
WSrd Perfect 5.1
Wort Perfect Lijfaiy
Wort Perfect Wte
Wordstar 2000 Plus

MS Mu?EPlaaXe:^i«
SCO Fo<Base

icovt^x 1^

SCQXerK386ver.2.3.1

SCO XenK2B6ver.2.3.2

COMMUNICAT.

Coi
Cro

DATABASE

Clarion Personal Oevefoper |l04
Clanon Pro Developer S368
Data Perfea 2.1 S255

Clrpp

r4.0

__ase IV S438
Dbase IV Developers Edrfion $789

Data Ease |4is

DB Pubteher Pro $389
DBPubisfier Report Maker $165

Foxbase 386 $284

FoiSase Pis $178

FoxbasePro $4ia

Lotus ^enda $248

Oracle Database add m $142

Paradox 3-0 $444

Paradox 386 ^
PFS Prof Fae

.ross talk XVI
Crossta'k Windows

grosstaiicMark IV
irsc Access 4,1
Fastwire li
Lapiriklll
Mirror III
PC ATTywhere IV
Procom P\is
Remote 2
Smarlcom II
Smartcom III
SmarEcom 320
Oose-up
Cosesso"
Re^» Goc

$102
$77
$133

S2K
S574

R-lasecompier

R;BaseforE>OS ....

Revelaiion Advance 5506
Revelation Advance Runtime S98

VPE)peft S112

VP info Sr2

DBXL Diamond 1.3 SC=
RaodFtieli

R&R Code generator S";

RSR RepoffWnter S'::

RoftexZO S-57

LANGUAGES

Macro Assembler

MS Bmc Pro develoo sstm S29S

MS C tonoiter 5.1 ' S272 _.

MS Cobol Compder 3 0 $545 CAT Rex

MSFonranlSjmp.ler S272 OFIOCT

MS Ouck Pascal S61

Rya.n Mcf ariard Fortran $358

Rya-^ McFar-anJ Cobol 5^

Tl^ Base 1.1 564

Tuftjo C 2 0 5Si

Jiita C Pro ST58

Tl/tx) Pascal 5.5 Pro Pa* S158

Turtx) Pascal-Dev. Library S254

Merosofi Pascal S180

Mero Windows Dev SM"

Turtw Power Tools Plus g6

LAN & NETWRK

$439
|598

S151
S118
5506
S865
S626
$277

Accpac BPt NeiwrK

D^Si^LAN3pacK

DBase iV LAN

Fo)«aseLAN

MS Excel Network node

MS Wort Network fXKie

Novell Netware ELS I

Novel Netware ELS II

Paradox Networit

°F_SP-o';ss>c-alLAN

.5':,-= F,Di."erNework $o8
Wo'C perec: aOditonal user $154

Lompieie nanobcariauo
ComqleteFi^ilPgeOCR'FP $288
CATReader 1/2 page S139
* \T RMder Ful P^e S224

UTILITIES

GRAPHICS

Corel Draw ^2
Deluxe Paint II Enhanced $75
Deswier $414
FirsIThjbfchers Power Pack SS7
Rowcharling II Plus $121
Form Tools 548
FormWoiiffiwifilSiie 581

graph Pljs S3'S
raphicintheBox K.:
Ha rvart Graphics Si"-
HarvartGraphiCS DrawPrtnr 55:

Ldjs Freelance Pita S3i4
PC Paintljrusti to Windows] 578
PC Paintonjsh rV* $104
PFSFrsPubfehterAnGllry $74
Pisai 542

SPRDSHEETS

Lotus 123 ver.2.2
Lotus 123 ver 3 0
Luc<3 30
MS Excel 21
MSMulDPlan4.0
Multiplan 4.01
Plan Perfect 5-0
Quattro
Quatiro Pro
SuperCafcS
Twm Advanced
VP Plannef
SuoerCkcV LAN
VP Planner 2.0

I DrPlus

386 to the Max V. 3.0
Above Dsk
Ba*Lp Pro
Braok&n Bridge
Caroulel ^
Copy II PC
Desqvtew
Desq view 386
PireaAccsss
Fastbackftjs
Formworicsw/fil 8fie

Le Meru
Lotus Magelan
Mace Utibes
MS Windows 236
MS Windows 388
Move -Em

Cc-r-aTce'S.O

I'/^iAft-xecl 5.0

Poa Drop P.us
adetock Pkjs
Spmwiite II
SreePfo
Xtree Pro Go«
Allways tof Lotus
Alhrays for Symghony

S255
S287

...larkPI..
Caiise Control
Dan Brid*'s Demo II

^iSpl Plus
Gofer

Lotus Metro
Mace Go kj
Xtree Net
V Feature
VFeaajrePlus
Ootune

INSTRUCTION

PRJCTMGMT

Harvart Projea Manager III

Tmefeie 3.0
VP Planner 3D
Tmeline Graphics

Mavs Beaco.T
TeaCTiEsTypng
PC Logo fnewver.)
Persorj! Lawer
CarTTiEn San Dieoi:
W^ere Wo?S
Where mTme
Where rn the USA
Resume Maker
Will Maker

8 bii Coax'Slar

SbuCoKcBus

8 b<t UTP/Slar^s

8W4inl

i6t)itCoax'Star

l6bsCoaxBLB

leoitUTPStar Bus

LAN CARDS

8portextAaiveHubUTP $^

Novell Boot ROM aie Bit §9

e&tEnetInt $164

16 Bit H:-oerfEnet Novel! $229

GAME & EDUC.

Ca&omia^ames
California Games II
cne^ aster 2100
F-15Stnke EMte II
F-1 5 Combat Piot
F-l9Stea1h Fighter
Kino's Quest I.TI. III. IV
Hunt for RetJCWoPer
Leeure Suit Larry I
LelEi^e Suit Lanyll.lll
Mac Scuba

MSFEghtSi(THiaEDr4.0
PC USA

RedStomi Rising
Sim City
Tetris

Tlieir Finest Hour
Ton Que of the Taman

QCKE

ICOMPUTERS $199

El

MffiuPshi Diamond Sc
PanawrK 1391
Sony 1304 MuHscan
Sony 1302 Mutecan

BACKLIT NOTEBOOK

♦ 9.5Mhz-20MB $1295 $34/mo

only 6lbs

POQET $CaU$
ATARI Portfolio$359-$15/mo

PALMTOP 80C88. MS DOS compatible.
Lotjs 123 file compatible. Word Proces-
sor. Address Book. Appointment Diary.
Phone Dialer. Up Download thru parallel
port to printers' PC/XT/AT/386.0

SHARP Notebook
PC 6220 $79/mo

* 286-12Mhz

* 20MB hard drive

* Backlit super twist VGA-LCD |

* Weighs 4.4 lbs. - 11"x8.5"x14-

1 5/"^°'

TOSHIBA !

llUUO/ookcoc Si49
T1000/I200SE/XE
ir^B/2tv1B Call/S299
T1600/3100/3200/
5200 2MB S295

lrvtB/4M3 S199/Cal!
Z386.20/25/33
1MB/2MB S145/249
4MB S649
Z386SX

2MB S199

COMPAQ

SLTlfvlB STVV
LTE286

1MB/2MB S295/475
DeskPro286-
20/20E/25/286-6
1MB/4MB S165/440
DeskF>ro386S
1MB/4MB S165/495
DeskPro 386/33
2MB S295

IBM PS/2

Mdl 3U/O0Z/CO
512K/2MB S75/225
Mdl70.E61/121
1MB

Mdl 70 A-21
2MB

Mdl 80 141
1MB

Mdl 80 111/211
2MB

EPSON FAX ■ RICOH

CANON FAX

FaX;rtort;15

Fax aim 20
FaX|jfoo«23
Faxpi>m26
FaxD(wie35
Fax 222
Fax 270
Fax 350
Fax 450
Fax 630
Fax 705
Fax 770
Fax 850

$419
S569
S749
S895
S865
SI 099
S1399
$1595
$1845
$1899
$2149
$3399
$2849

PANASONIC

KXF 120
KXF220
KXF 320
KXF 50
KXF 90
KX110

$749
$1045
$1335
SCALL
$CALL
$CALL

S125
S245

S199

PANAFAX

S299

4019LoserlM6 $299

UF 160

UF170

PDE120E

PDE160E

PDE170E

MURATA

1MB/2MB
HP IIP/Ill

1MB/2MB SI 45/245

1^900
S145/209 t^'lOO
M1850
F25

S325

80287.8

80287.10

80287-12

80387-16

80387-20

80387-25

80387-33

S125
S196
S204
S269
S295
S389
S455

$645
$925
$495
$679
$979

$395
$499
S698
$769

F37 $849
F40 $1110
F45 $1299
Samsung 1010 $399

RF810
RF860
RF910
RF920
Fax 15
Fax 25
Fax 35
Fax 80
Fax 95
Fax 105
Fax 1010
Fax 1000 L

F^lb
FO230
F0 333
FO5I0
FO550
FO750
FO800
FO5200
UX110
UX181

Guisll0/220v
AudiovoxlOOO
AF2000 ■K220.

$399
$625
$499
$699
$666
$939
$999
$1199
SI 795
S18I9
S2795
$2995

W99
$599
$699
$759
$1199
$1499
$1695
$2499
$455
S595
S499
$359
$499

FAX CARDS

c.j«ft. JT 9600 $299

Hayes JT 9600 $459
9600 FAX + 2400

Modem card $299
Complete

PC 9600 $394

9600 Faxed $184

MODEMS

2400 int
2400 ext
9600 int
9600 ext

$69
$Call
$395
SCall

TOSHIBA !

T3400
T3600
T3750

S568
$659
$748

AMx,2400te $82/116
2400 MNP i/e $155/225
9600v32MNP5i $745
Evew 2400 MNP5i $175
2400 MNP5 ext $194

SCANNERS

Stiarp JX 100 S66S
Sharp JX 300 $2779
Sharp JX 450 $4779
Chinon DS 3000 $549
Chinon DS 3000/OCR $699
Epson Color SCall
HP Scanjet $1385
Oscam dOOdpi full pg +
doc feed + OCR S695
Panasonic 505U S7B4

SI 078
$989
$165
$499

Panasonic 506U
Panasonic 307U
Complete PC 1/2 pg
Complete PC full pg
Logitech 5' ScanMon
+ OCR

DEST 81/2 scan + OCR
Mars axwp i- Hand - ocr
Mars 800d=. 5' HandScan

- OCR S299

$299
S699
S179

PIllHUniUn Mr

800-383-3199

orders only

714-898-8626

customer service/foreign orders

FAX: 714-891-12024

M-F: 6a.m. -6p.m. Sat/Sun 7a.m. -2p.m

LAP-
TOPS

TOSHIBA

MONTHLY PAYMENTS

TOSHIBATIOOO S599 $23 mo

TlOOOSENotetjook SGAa
TIOOO XE 1200 XE NotetXJOk $CAa

$CAa
otetXMk SCALL
T1200HB20MB S1599 S58mo
T1600 286 20MB $2399 S64mo
T1600 286 401^8 $2585 S69mo
TI600 X 40MB SCALL
T3100E 286 40MB 396 mo

T31 00 SX 40MB 80MB $3585 CALL
T3200SX40MB SCALL
T5100 386 100MB S4199 SllZmo
T5200 386 40MB S4479 $119.mo
T5200 386 100MB $4879 $130/1110

SHARP

PC 6220 Notebook 20MB $79 mo

PC 8081 80MB Color VGA SS169mo

PC 4741 Mini Laptop SCall

PC 5741 40MB VGA S93 mo

LEADING EDGE

386SX With 20MB SI 995 S52'mo
386SX With 40MB $2095 S57/mo

TEXAS INSTR.^

Tl 1 2 286 20MB •,=:» SI 895 ^
TI45 286 52349 S63 mo

Notebook 286 20MB VGA-4lbs SCALL

ZENITH LAPTOPS

Minsport NOTEBOOK SCall

Superspod 184-2 SI 695

Supersport 286 20MB $2499

Superspoct 286 40MB $2699

Supersport 286E 2040MB SCall

386SX 40MB $3899

NEC LAPTOPS

Ultralite 2MB NOTE BOOK SCall
Prospeed 286 20MB SCall S67~.mo
Prospeed 286 40MB SCi I $78 mo
Prospeed 386SX H;all $102 mo
Prospeed 386 40MB $3499 592 mo

MITSUBISHI

MP 286-210 2 FO S1265 $35 mo

MP 286-220 1 FD. 20t.E $1639 $45 mo
MP 286.240 1 FD. 40r.!= $2139 $58 mo

COMPAQ LAPTOPS

LTE20MB $2139 $58 mo

LTE 286 20MB $2525 $80 mo

LTE 286 40MB $2699 $87 mo

COMPAQ SLT 20MB 40MB SCall
COMPAQ SLT 40MB SLOW
SLT 386SX VGA SCall

EPSON LAPTOPS

286E 20MB removable $2198 S60 mo
286E 40MB removable $2349 $65 mo
386SX 20MB removable S3159S85mo
386SX 40MB 53299 389 mo

GOLDSTAR

GS500 286 20MB $1495 $40 mo

GS520 386SX VGA 40MB LOWS^;all

HYUNDAI

LT4.286 20MB VGA $50 mo

LT5.386SX20MB $64 mo

NB.286 20MB $71 mo

TandonLT286LT386 40MB $Call
PanasonicCF150B-.=*. 5599 $23-=

Altima386NSX Notebook $Call

Bondwell 310; 286 40MB $1695

386-20 Goldstar

$1895

386SX Goldstar

$999 $25 mo

-•■•e ='V.' - - 5' - 21m -cx; eve • ' ■ rer'eave
CO— c e- ■

Goldstar XT

$399 $16/mo

b v-: s\: X : .-c-Ds: 3 ^ • ^6eK ra;.i • ■ 5' y 360KB

486- 25Mhz

4MBRAM <t!*2I>QQ
100MB HD «pOt#«7c7

Ma^avox XT
20MB $599 $21/mo

386-33Mhz

40MB mono $1895
IBMPS/S

Model 25 Mono color S9751229

IBM 8530 286 20MB 30MB $1695 1895

IBM 8555 SX.3OMB S2695

IBM 8555 SXeOMB S3025

IBM 8560 286 44MB S3175

IBM 8571561 061 ' $3495 3895

IBM 8570 A61 55845

Portable 70 60MB 120MB SCall

IBM 8570.121 20Mhz 386 $4450

IBM8570.A21 25MI1Z386 $6195

8580.041 16Mhz 386. 40MB $4195

8580 111 20Mhz 386. 115MB $5795

COMPAQ

Deskpro286E 20MB 40MB S2099 2399

Deskpro386S SCall

Deskpro 386 20E 40MB M275

Deskpro 386 20E 1 1 0MB $4799

Deskpro 386 25E 84MB S5495

Deskpro386 25E 110MB $6195

Deskpro 386 25E 300MB $8495

Deskpro 386 33 84MB $7245
Model 486 25N

120MB 320MB 650MB SCALL

Portable III 20MB 40MB S3395 3998

Portable 386 40MB 100MB $4799 5599

APPLE MACINTOSH

Portable S3899
Mac SE 30 40MB $2950
Mac IIX 40MB $4150

MORE LAPTOPS

FORA 386SX 40MB VGA $2395
FORA 386SX 100 200MB $2799 3098
PACKARD BaL286.VGA20 31995
Sarrst.ngGS 3600 VGA 40MB $1959
SamsungGS52W $1495

PRINTERS

Panasonic KXP.1180
Panasonic KXP.1191
Panasonic KXP.1124
Panasonic KXP.1695
Panasonic KXP.1624
KXP.4420 mSER
KXP.4450i LASER
KX04455mSER
Diconix 150 plus
TILasei

Sharp Laser SX.9500 S895
NEC2200 S325
NEC 6200 SCall
NEC 5300 S649
OladalaML182 S230
OkklataML320 $335
OkkJala ML 321 S455
OkidataML380 24pin S355

S209
S289
SCall
SCall
SCall
SI 299
SCall
$318
SCall

OkidataM-;.-: =- : -
Okidalal.'-;;- : -
Okidala ML 295 2- o.' 5955
Okidata ML393 C24pS1029
Okidata ML2410 24p $15"

Toshiba 301
TosHiba 311
Page Laser 6
HFDeskjet Plus
HP 2P Laser printer
HP III Laser printer
HP 2D Laser printer $23M

S318

St 099
$695

S189
S199
S259
I249
5539
5238
5258

HPDeskwriter
Eoson LQ510
E::;c" Lase- &000

$795
S295
5899

Co-ner200MB18ms S945
SEAGATE
20MB ST225
30MB ST238R
40MBST251.1
BOMB ST277R
80MB ST4096
20MB ST1 25 3.5"
3(IMBST1393.5"
WESTERN DIGITAL
WD1003V.MM1 HOC
WD1003V.MM2<.:C
WD1003V.SR1 RLL S99
WD1003V.SR2RLL $115
WD1006V.MM1 1;1 $99
WD1006V.MU2*.: $119
WDXTGENZOCTHDC S58
RIecard 20MB XT/AT S349
WD 3.5- 40MB IDE AT S415

Temis: These are pre-payment prices decounled 2.9% for cash. Dscover, VISA/MC/COD a/e not considered pre-paymenL Restocking 20%.
AOO BYT ^^^i®^l '° change, all sales are fln^. Defecth/e items repaired, in warranty. A $5.95 handling charge will be added to all orders.

Telephone Product Center

12603 Hoover St.,
Garden Grove, CA 92641

We accept Cashiers Checks. We check for stolen credit cards. Prices and availatHlity
, NO RETURNS. Monthly financing payments are approximations only.

Circle 339 on Reader Service Card

Full Page Scanner. .$269.00 Letter Quality Daisy Wheel Printer. .$119.00 200Meg Drive. .$849.0

"We guarantee lowest pricing * on Seagate, Everex, Panasonic, DTK Systems, Samsung, all memory expansions,
and many more name brand products. Also, NEVADA COMPUTER specializes in over stocic, discontinued, excess,
liquidation, bankrupt, etc. INVENTORIES, of which we purchase large quantities under dealer cost and offer
to you at a fraction of everybody elses pricing. Savings up to 90% off. All new with at least 90 day warranties."

mm

MEMORIES.

Description

1MB Add-on Module
1MB Add-on Module
4MB Add-on Module

4MB Add-on Module
1MB Memory Exp. 8d
1MB Memory Exp. Bd
4MB Memory Exp. Bd
4MB Memory Exp. Bd
1MB Memory Exp. Bd
4MB Memory Exp. Bd
1MB Upjrade Bd
4MB Upgrade Bd

Equiv. Compaq
Part #

113131- 001
113646-001

113132- 001
112534-001

113644- 001

113633- 001

113645- 001

113634- 001

117428- 001

117429- 001
110235-001
108070-001

For
Model #

386/20/25/20e/286E

Deskpro 386S
3Se/20/25/20E/2S6E
Deskpro 386S
Deskpro 386/20e
Deskpro 386S
Deskpro 386/20e
Deskpro 386S
286E
286E
SLT/286
386/16

Your
Low Price
179i"i
189""
359"
4ggoa
2ggao
3jgoa
799""
799""
469""

1299""
399""

1299""

Description

256 X 9 IBM
IMeg X 8 Apple
IMeg X 9 IBM
4Meg X 9 IBM

120NS lOONS SONS 60NS

19"" 29"" 33"" 59»"

85"" 95"" 99"" —

— 64"" 69"" 99""

_ _ 39900 49900

IMeg 119"" 2Meg 179"" 4/Heff 299"

HP IIP 1049"" HP LASER JET II 1499"" HP III 1799""
All memory lioanls expandable to 4 Meg. Specify Machine Type

8087

8087-2

8087-1

80287

802878

8028710

8 Bit

5MHz or less 88""

8MH2 118""

lOMHz or less 149""

16 Bit

6MH2 149"°

8MH2 189"«

10MHz 218""

8K28712 Laptop

278""

32 Bit

80807-16 16MHz
8038720 20MHz
8038725 25MHz
8038733 33MH2
80387SX
80287-XL

309""
359""
459""
559""
2ggoo

228"°

Description

512K Upgrade
2MB Upgrade
1MB Module
2MB Module
2MB Module
1MB Mem. Board
2MB Mem. Board
2MB Exp. 8MB
4MB Module
2MG Module
4MG Board
2-8MG Board

Equiv. IBMPS2
Part #

30F 5348
30F 5360
6450603
6450604
6450608
6450375
6450379
6450605
34F 2933
6450572
6451060
1497259

For
IVIodel #

30/286

30/286
70-E61 8 121
70-f6r « 121

70-A21

80-041
80-111 & 311

70/80

70/80
70 & 80
80-A21 & A31
50-55 & 60

Your
Low Price
59°°
189°"
104°"
1S9"
209""
149""
31900

599°°
599°°
44 goo

699""
499"

Description 150NS

64 X 1 ,.,15* 1"

64 X 4 -foO^w* 2«5

256 x 1 ^'^jW^O' 1"

12aNS lOONS
180 2*0

M l

RAM 3000 DELUXE Up to 3 Meg. (EMS) 4.0 OS/2. Back up base
memory and expanded and/or extended memory. Uses nnnn

256K D-RAM 99""

RAM 8000 Up to 8MG capacity/support to base extended or expanded
memory In an/ combination. Fully compatible with Lotus. Intel,
Microsoft. EMS 4.0 EFMS. Supports Multi-Tasking and DMA Multi-Tasking
in hardware software configurable (no dip switches to set). Full 16MG
window for future expansion. Zero wait state, uses IMG ^nnnn

D-RAM 199""

RAM 10000 Up to 10 MB extended or expanded memory.
Compatible with Lotus. Intel. Microsoft. EMS 4.0. Uses ^-.^nn
1 MB D-RAM 179'"'

256 x4
1 Meg X 1

06-

295
IIS

8°°
495

3«

23S

900
5<s

39s
2"
10°°
5»s

16 BIT MEMORY BOARD FOR 286. 386 AT

0K-8Meg Board • 4 0 LIM Compatible • New 5 Year Warranty
• Conventional, Expanded and Extended Memory
• Supports DOS, OS/2, LIM/EMS 8, EEMS
• Operates with CPU Speeds to 33 MHz
OK - 129"" 2 Meg - 246°°

4 Meg - 353"° 8 Meg - 577°"

386/25/33

359""
1159""

2MG Card Toshiba Portable T1600
2MG Card Toshiba Portable T3100SX .
4MG Card Toshiba Portable T3100SX. .
512K Card Toshiba Portable T3100e . . .
2MG Card Toshiba Portable T3100e .
2MG Card Toshiba Portable T3200SX .
4MG Card Toshiba Portable T3200SX
3MG Card Toshiba Portable T3200 . . .
2MG Card Toshiba Portable T5100 . . .
2MG Module Toshiba Portable T5200 .
3MG Module Toshiba Desktop T8500

49!

13"
6«

29800
298°°

798°°
148°°
298°"
298""
698""
498"°
298°°
298°°
348°°

• 300 DPI • 16 Sees per page • 32 Level Gray Scale

• 1 year warranty • Ready to go Interface card and cable Included

List 1595 Your Price 499"''

OPTIONS: OCR 199°" PC Paint By Z-Soft 1.65 79"°

Sheet Feeder (also works with HP) 299'°

-YEAR END CLEARANCE-

WHILE SUPPLIES LAST - WITH 1 YEAR WARRANTY

• Automatic Group 111 Digital Fax • Background operation

• Send & receive, screen images, scanned pages

• 1200 Baud modem built on • Fax 9600/7200/4800/240 C

• Software - telephone cord • New, factory sealec

List 695 Your Price 14900

• 6.5MB per minute

• Wangtec 5099EN24 drive o2

• Wangtec 8 fait Qic60 controller

• Software • Menu driven

• DC600 cartridge • Easy installation

List 99900 Your Price 399^0

40MB backup works off floppy controller

• 14CPS Letter Quality

• Manufactured by Silver Reed

• IBM Centronics Parallel Interface

• New 90 day warranty

List 1149"" Your Price 149""

12 CPS version for

OCR Software

• IBM Interface 8, Cable
• PagePower Software
A complete drav/
Scan, fax packages
• 200DPI • Automatic Sheet Feede-

List 999»» Your Price 269""

MANUFACTURED BY ZOOM PC 2400 HC INTERNAL MODEM

• Fully Hayes Compatible • Monitor Speaker with Volume Control

• 2400/300 Baud Transmission Rate • Addressable COM 1.2.3,4

• Compatible with IBM PC XT AT and Compatibles

• Full Duplex Operation • Complete with ProConim Software

• Two Year Manufacturer's Warranty • Auto Dial/Auto Answer

List 199°" Your Price 79"° Each
2400 BAUD EXTERNAL MODEM List 299°" Your Price 99<°

~l 1 VtAR

I I

EV-923 EverCom 12 300/1200 bps Bitcom Software 69""

EV-941 EverCom 24 2400 Baud Int. Bitcom Software 139°"

EV-945 External 2400 Baud 199""

EV-942 2400 PS2 199°" Level 5 MNP Add 390«

IBM DIRECT REPLACEMENT
150 WATT XT Comp. • UL Appr • 110/20V input switch • 4 drives 49°"
200 WATT AT comp. • UL Appr • 110/220V input switch 69'°

12" Amber w/TlIt & Swivel Base

14" Color 640 X 200. 16 colors 209"

14" EGA 640 X 350. 64 colors/31 369"°

VGA 800 X 600 Multisync Compatible 449°°

14" VGA Demo looks new. .31 Dot Pitch 284°"

ST125-0
ST125-1
ST1380
ST138-1
ST225

ST238R (RLL)
SJ251-1
ST227R-1 (RLL)
ST4096
ST4144 (RLL)

EGA EV659, 640 x 350, Auto Switch
VGA Viewpoint 16 Bit 256 Exp 512k

a If

AT KIT XT KIT

20mB 40msec 3.5" S249 S299

20mB 28msec 3.5" S269 S319

30mB 40msec 3.5" S289 S339

30mB 28msec 3.5" S309 S359

20mB 65msec S199 S249

30mB 65msec S219 S279

42mB 28msec S269 S33S

65mB 28msec S339 S389

80mB 28msec S549 S599

120mB 28msec S649 S699
XT kits include cables, software (over 32MB) controller
AT kits include cables, rails, software (over 32MB)

CONNER HARD PfilW±^

99"
179"

40 Meg 18 Mil. Sec. .399" 100 Meg 18 Mil. Sec. 549"°
200 Meg 18 Mil Sec. 849"

360K V2 Ht. 5'/. 59"

1.2 Meg 5'/i 79°"

720K 3V2" Dnve w/5'A' mounting 69"

1.44 Meg 3ii " Drive w/S'/i " mounting 89"

360K Tandon TM100-2 Full Ht (The original IBM) 89""

We also carry Sony Teac & others. Please Call

NCC VIDEO CARDS. . .

MonoGraphics (Hercules Compatible) with Par Port 29"

Color Graphics (Hercules Compatible) with Par Port 39""

Mono Card Text Only 9""

VGA Card 1024 x 768 (256K Exp 512K) 109"

STB mono/color card 29"

FOR HARDDRIVES

39" 8 Bit WD Controller 59"

109" 16 Bit Everex HD/Floppy 1.1 99°"
FOR FLOPPYS

Super Floppy Controls 1.2, 360K. 720K & 1.44 Drives 69«»

IDE Controller

16 Bit WD Controller 2:1

ORDERS ONLY

800-654-7762

TECHNICAL / CUSIOMER SERVICE / ORDER STATUS:

702-294-0204
FAX 702-294-1168

TnOemtrts »n RagatentI witM OMr nspeetive Cai Prices Sub/eci to Cliiiige

Ail Products 90 Day Warrsnly unless slated otherwise.

• WE ACCEPT INTERNATIONAL ORDERS

• NO SOFTWARE RETURNS

NO SURCHARGE FOR MC/VISA/AE

TERMS:
MC • VISA • COD CASH • NET

Purchase Orders fnim Qualitied Firms
Personal Checks • COD add SS.00
20<yt Restocking Fee on Returns Within 15 Days
No Refunds After 30 Days
ALL PRICES FINAL

SE HA6U ESPANOL

7000 Nevada Hwy. • Unit 101
Boulder City, NV S9005

SHIPPIHG: (min 8=) UPS

EMBER 1990!

NEW UNIQUE POWERFUL!

INTRODUCING...

NETFAX

NETWORK FAX SYSTEM

• Send from within WordPerfect

• Automatic inward routing via TTI/CSIO

• Uses no TSR Memory

• Includes facsimile modem & network software

• Send FAX messages from any worl<station

• Merge text and graphics

• Automatic personalized cover sheets

• Can both send and receive fnnc

• Secure Journal to Users ^Hilt)

Get FAX Power Today!

\LL XHE FM® 1-800-289-3329

Circle 15 on Reader Service Card

• Intel S052AH-BASIC CPU

• PROM programmer

• Now requires 5V. Supply only

• Enhanced memory mapping:
Supports 2K-64K device-^

to a total of 128K.

Still only $228.00 QTY 1
Call Now! (603) 469-3232

Inquire about our PKD51 8051-8052 product development
kit tor the IBM PCXT/AT- $595. and 8051/8053 BASIC
compiler: S295.

Binary Technology, Inc. ^

MEMORY UPGRADES

IBM PS/2 , APPLE

AST , COMPAQ
HEWLEH PACKARD
ZENITH , SUN MICRO
STANDARD SIMMS

u\ptop memory
(nec, toshiba, apple, compaq)
laser printer memory
( hp canon, tec engine)
no risk, best price, best quality

Ae© On

iiMERICA

A DIVISION Of ROHM CORPORATON
«3 N MATHILDA AVE SUNNYVALE. OA 9W88
TEL (4081 746-1590 FAX |<08| 746.1593

1-800-292-7771

488

Easiest to use,
GUARANTEED!

• IBM PC. PS/2, Macintosh. HP. Sun. DEC

• IEEE device drivers for DOS. UNLX.
Lotus 1-2-3. VMS. XENIX & .Macintosh

• Menu or icon-driven acquisition software

• IEEE analyzers, expanders, extenders, buffers

• Analog I/O. digital 1/0. RS-232. RS-422. SCSI,
tnodem & Centronics converters to IEEE 48S

Free Catalog & Demo Disks
(216) 439-4091

Bcn

25971 Cannon Rd. • Cleveland, OH 44146

Circle 182 on Reader Service Card

8051/8052
BASIC
COMPILER!

Now with integer, byte and bit extensions.
Fully compatible with MCS BASIC 52
Runs on IBM-PC or compatible

$295.00

Call Now! 603-469-3232

Binary Technology, Inc.

UNIPRO,

the PC/XT/AT/386 based universal program-
mer/tester programs PROMs, EPROMs,
EEPROMs up to 4MB and 32-bit wide, PALs,
PLDs, GALs, EPLDs, PEELs, and Micro Con-
trollers. JEDEC file compatibility and Test Vec-
tor verification allow the use of most popular
PLD compilers. The unit also tests HL/CMOS
Logic ICs and Dynamic/Static RAMs. 40-pin
Gold ZIP socket, built-in protection
for short circuit and over current,
high speed parallel inter-
face to the PC, and menu-
driven software are included
at $585.

XEIXEK

764 San Aleso Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
TEL: (408) 727-6995 • FAX: (408) 727-6996,

Circle 112 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 113)

-3

DS-DD

Foreign Enquiries Welcome

DS-HD

4?r?Bc, 5.25" 3M Brand Diskettes 3 =^ so.

7§,?,:, 3,50" 3M Brand Diskettes 14?,?b,,<

3M DATA CARTRIDGES

DC-2000 13.95 DC-600A 18.99

DC-300XLP 17.39 OC-6150XTD .... 19.99

3M COMPUTER TAPES

777-yz"-2400'-C55 ... 11 .45 700-yz"-2400'-C55 . . . 12.55
777-'/2"-1200'-C55 .... 8.95 700-'/!"-2400'-Cr43 . . 13.45

DEC-TK-50 25.95 DEC-TK-52 37.95

IBM-3480 4.95 Opt. Rewrite Disks ..169.00

3M HIGHLAND DISKETTES
5.25" OS-DD 5.25" DS-HD

=51! BOX 3yHpand

BIfsox 3.50" BRAND NAME 124?.,

DS-DD

.32

Quantity Discounts Available DS-HD

. 5.25" BASF Brand Diskettes .... BOX

. 3.50" BASF Brand Diskettes . . . . BOX

BASF 5.25" DS-DD No-Logo Bulk
• with sleeves, tods & W/P tabs

2400' w/tape seal .... 1 0.95 600' w/tape seal 6.95

1200' w/tape seal 7.95 300' w/tape seal 5.45

M Verbatim DataLifePlus

TeJIon/Preformalled '

DS-DD Quantity Discounts Available DS-HL)

BOX 5.25 D3taLif6 Plus Disk6ttGS ... w =er box

7i?5o> 3.50" DataLife Diskettes . . .

maxellJ

5.25"DS/DD 5.25"DS/HD 3,50" DS/DD 3.50" DS/HD

5.59 9.69 7.99 14.39

KAO BULK

DS-HD

.69

■|09

DS-DD "No-Logo"

.39 5.25"Color-Bul

.69 3.50" Color-Bulk

BULK DISKETTES

5,25"DS/D0 5,25" DS/HD 3,50" DS/OD 3,50" DS/HD

.25* .46* .45 .99

•WiTH SLEEVES, LABELS AND W,, P TABS

PACKARD Original Toner Cartridges

Laserjet Series I P/N 92285A 75.95

Laserjet Series 11 P/N 92295A 75.95

Laserjet Series IIP P/N 902275A 63.95

Dysan

5 2rCS HC 3,5O"DSID0 3,50" DS/HD

069 795 1495

V :C< I PER BOX IT PER BOX

WE BEAT ANY PRICE!!

TERMS: No surcharge on VISA. Mastercard or AMEX. Order
packaging and processing = S2.95 per order. COD orders add S3 95.
PO's accepted from recognized institutions on Net 30 days. L/C. T/T
and Bank Draft acceptable. Price quoted for case (100 disks or 10
cartridges). For quantities less than 1 case add 10%. SHIPPING:
U PS surface Si 95/5 cartndges: SO-95/50 diskettes. ( Prices subject
to change without notice. Errors and omissions not accepted. AH
warranties are from manufacturers.)

Toll Free Order Line; Information Line:

1-800-523-9681 1-801-255-0080
TLX-91 0240471 2 FAX-801 -572-3327

n DISKCOTECH

213 Cottage Avenue
P.O. Box 1339 Sandy, Utah 84091

Ore/e 13 on Reader Service Card

Circle 375 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 443

Circle 196 on Reader Service Card

KNAPCO

MASTER DISTRIBUTORS

EMERSON UPS

YES "'
KNAPCO
DELIVERS
EMERSON
POWER !!!

EMERSON MODELS

Model 10 ISOVa. $ 140.
Model 20 300Va. $219.
Model 30 SOOVa. $309.
Model 40 SOOVa. $539.
Model 50 UfOOVa. $ 739.
UPS 600 $798. $499.
UPS 1250 $1398. $709.
UPS 1500 $1798. $995.
TRUE ONUNE MODELS
PCET $798. $479.
AP15KVA $3217. $K50.
AP 3KVA $5550 $3799.
AP 5KVA $9499. $5999.

AccuCard NOW$t99.

ORDER HOT LINE

800-827-4718

true SINEW AVE or ONUNE

KNAPCO DEUVERS THE BEST PRICES !!!!

' IWTERWATiOWAl TRAWSfOftMERS ^

220v. / IIOv. STEP up / dowN

100
500
500
1000
IJOO
•2000

•>ooo

Watt.

>Vatt.

Watt.

Watt.

Watt.

Watt.

Watt.

TRA^sf
TransF

TRANSf
TRAMsf
TRANsf
TRANsf
TRANsf

"* SclECTAbU VolTAqe Taps

VolTAqE Regulators & CowdlTiowERS

TVR JOO 500 WATT 1K)/220v. J259. $128.
TVRIOOO MOO WAT 110 / 220v. $54». SV)b.
MV 2K 2000 WATT 220v. ONLY t429. »25».
VR2KDj2000WATT110/220v, »M». »)».

Wtm STEP tp Olt OOWN TRA/fSfOHMCKS

110 VoIt VoItaqe RequUtors
MV 500 500 WATT $119.
UPS BATTERIES FOR QUICK SHIP

813 - 449 - 0019

FAX 8U 449 - 0701 P 22

KNAPCO

QUAUTY DISTRIBUTION FOR 45 YEARS

1201 HAMLET AVE.
CLEARWATER FL. 3461 6 ^

444 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Sure
it's

insured ?

SAfE\V\R£» Insurance provides full
replacement of hardware, media and
purchased sofmare. is little as SW)t covers:
• Fire • Theft • Power Surges
• Viater Damage • Auto Accident
For information or immediate coverage call:

1-800-848-3469

Local 1 -6l-i-262-0559
Subject to underwriting and availability by state.
On CompuServe. GO SAF On GEnie. SAFEWARE

SAFEVrARE. The Insiimiice Agency Inc.
2929 N. Higli St.. P.O. Bov 02211
Columbus. OH 4^202

Circle 305 on Reader Service Card

Qfl/^CJ BASIC-52
OULyDl BOARD
FOR DISTRIBUTED
DATA ACQUISITION
$220 US includes:

• Intel 80C51FA, new PWM array

• RS422/485, auto RX/TX flow

• RS232, auto override select

• 64K static RAM, battery back up

• 32K CMOS EPROM, 8K BasiC-52

• Battery operated & NlCd charge

• On board power supply, 300ma

• Hitachi LMxx LCD driver port

• PC communication software

• * * OPTIONS * ★ ★

Prototyping Board (Dig.+Analog) . .$39US

PC/RS232 t — »■ RS422/485 $44US

80C51 Kit form $99US

BINARY DATA ACQWSmON CORP.

1735 Bayly Street, Pickering, Ontario L1W 3G7
Canada, Phone (416) 420-8029 Fax (416) 831-0510
Cashiers Cheque or Visa

Circle 47 on Reader Service Card

PROMPT DELIVERY!!!

SAME DAY SHIPPING (USUALLY)

QUANTITY ONE PRICES SHOWN for SEPT. 30. 1990

OUTSIDE OKLAHOMA: NO SALES TAX

DYNAMIC RAM

4M Board for hp LJ

5 w 2MB

SI 73.00

SIMM 2M IBM PS 2 Ivlodel 70

185.00

SIMM 1MASTPrem386 33Mhz 135.00

SIMM

lMx9

80 ns

59.00

SIMM

256KX9

100 ns

20.00

IMbIt

IMxl

60 ns

11.95

1Mbit

1lv1x1

80 ns

6.15

41256

256KX1

80 ns

2.90

41256

256Kx1

100 ns

2.10

41256

256KX1

120 ns

1.95

4464

64KX4

100 ns

2.20

41264*

64Kx4

100 ns

5.95

EPROM

27C1000

128Kx8

200 ns

S15.00

27512

64Kx6

200 ns

7.10

27256

32Kx8

200 ns

5.40

27128

16Kx8

250 ns

3.75

STATIC RAM

62256P-10

32Kx8

100 ns

S6.50

6264P-12

8Kx8

120 ns

4.25

OPEN 6 DAYS, 7:»am-10p«i:SHIP VIA FED-EX ON SAT.

SAT DEL ON
FED-EX ORDERS

flECEIVED BY;
Th S-2 SL2S 4 li
ft: M I17«lHi
COD AVAILABLE

Mas:e'Ca-c ViSA c- UPS CASH COD
MICROPROCESSORS UNLIMITED, INC.

rEfG°s^;";ir (918)267-4961

No minimum order. = ea5e^c;e j'ces si.:,ei: tr :-a-;i

imSASE

mul

yVOICE MAIL'TELEMAHKETING
^ ■ CALL PROCESSING

Let Powerline transform your PC/XT/AT/386
u into a multi-line voicej)rocessing command^i
^ center. Have you^^mputer intelligently
S process your sales, inquiries and mes-
g sages. Complete package.

^ ' Single Line (Sgmoutm . .$295.M
I Mufli-Une $895.00

^ (Developer/OEM packages avaiiaWe)

z VISA -MC-AMEX- coo

I Call: (415) 522-3800

S FAX: (415) 522-5556

1 TALKING TECHNOLOQY, INC.

" 1125 AFLANTIC AVE., ALAMEDA. OA 94501

See us at COIVIDEX, Booth »H7067

Circle 334 on Reader Service Card

Write COBOL Applications
for DOS, UNIX, VMS, Novell
and BOS with ijug compiler.

• Multi-user * Multi-platfortn

• DBMS Tools • Transportable Object

• Screen Builder • Subroutine Library

• Report Writer • UUlityToollcit

• Text Editor • Terminal-independent

• Debugger • Many more features

Call or write for complete information.

BOS National, Inc.
2<07 Walnut Hill Lane
Dallas, TX 75229
(214)956-7722

Circle 55 on Reader Service Card

AVT286-12 40MB Mono System

$895

- INTEL 80286 12 MHz, 0 Wait

- 1MB RAM Expandable to 4MB

- 40MB Hard Dfive

- 1.2MB or 1.44MB Roppy Drive

- 101 Key ExterxJed Keyboard

- Monochrome Monitor with Here.
Graphics

- Parallel, Serial. Real Time Clock

- Choiceof Slimline. Desktop or Mini
Tower Case

- One Year Warranty

Same Configuration as
above wrth

386SX- 16 Si 095

386SX-20 $1175
386-25 SI 545

386-33 SI 845

Options

VGA Color Add S350

65MB HD Add SI 20

80MB HD Add S250

Second Roppy Add S89
All other upgrades CALL

MOTHERBOARD SPECIAL

80286-12 0 Wait. Exp 10 4MB. AMI BIOS. OK S129
e0386SX-16 16MHZ, Exp to SMB. AMI BIOS. OK S319
80386SX-20 New 20MHX, Exp to 8MB, AMI BIOS. OK S399
80386-25 0 Wa9. AMI BIOS. Exp 10 SMB. OK S749
80386.33 64K Cache, 0 Wait. AMI BIOS. OK S1049
Special!! 80486-25 128K Cache, 0 Wait CALL

Avantech Solutions, Inc.

3 W. Columbia Ave.
Palisades Park, NJ 07650
(201)941 -1961

Circle 226 on Reader Service Card

Circle 38 on Reader Service Card

PS/2 model 30/286-30 meg 1795

PS/2 model 50Z/286-60 meg 2395

PS/2 model 55SX/386SX-60 meg . .2875

PS/2 model 70/386-120 meg 5595

PS/2 model 80/121-120 meg NEW

"* Monitor Extra ***

comma

Compaq 286E-40 meg 2150

Compaq 386/20E-100 meg 4150

Compaq 386S-100 meg 3595

Other Models CALL

*** Monitor Extra ***

LOW

PRICE

LEADER

SINCE 1983

VERE^

Everex System 1 1995

Everex Step 286/12 - Imeg
40 meg VGA card and monitor

Everex System II 2495

Everex Step 386SX - 2 meg
40 meg VGA card and monitor

Everex System III 5395

Everex Step 386/33 - 4 meg
150 meg VGA card and monitor

* CALL FOR MODELS & CONFIG *

Macintosh

Mac SE/30-40 meg 3195

Mac-IICX-80 meg 4595

Mac Portable-40 meg 4795

Other Models CALL

*" Keyboard & Monitor Extra ***

LAPTOP

Texas Instruments TM2000 2595

Compaq LTE/286-40 2975

Sharp 6220 2595

CALL FOR OTHER BRANDS

LAPTOP
ACCESSORIES

Memory

1 meg Toshiba 1000SE 210

2 meg Toshiba 3100SX 230

2 meg Toshiba 3200SX 230

2 meg Toshiba 5200 225

1 meg Compaq SLT 310

AGI Computer

AGI 386SX-1 meg 1695
40 meg VGA card and monitor

AST 386SX - 2 meg
40 meg VGA card and monitor

CALL FOR OTHER MODELS

2395

DISKS

DYSAN S'A HD / 31/2 HD 13/26

MAXELL 5y4 HD / 3V2 HD 12/25

Min. 10 Boxes Order

WE STOCK CITIZEN TOSHIBA PRINCETON GRAPHICS

OKIDATA NEC SONY

EVEREX WYSE ACER

GOLD STAR HITACHI HOUSTON INSTRUMENTS

AMDEK PC MOUSE

HAYES MiCROSOF MICE
SAMSUNG LOGITECH
CALCOMP MITSUBISHI

IRWIN & ARCHIVE
TAPE BACK

TAXAN
MAGNOVOX

Intel
Coprocessors

8087-3 105

8087-2 145

80287-8 225

80287-10 249

80387-16 395

80387-20 425

80387-25 495

80387-33 599

MONITORS

Nec Multisync IIA . . . .499
Nec Multisync 3D ....599

Magnavox EGA 339

Nec Multisync 5D . . .2350

Samsung EGA 359

Sony 1302 619

SOFTWARE SPECIALS

dBase IV 455

WordPerfect 5.1 260

Aldus Pagemaker 495

Ventura Publisher 525

Clipper 435

WordStar 5.5 150

EasyExtra 40

PACIFIC

DATA PRODUCTS

R Page II 395

R Page IIP 365

P 1-2-4 Mem II 159

R One Meg IIP 180

P 25 in One III 275

R Headlines 245

NOVELL
Authorized
Dealer

LAN BOARDS

8 bit Arcnet 110

16 bit Arcnet 220

8 bit Ethernet 190

16 bit Ethernet 275

8 port Active Hub . . .325
Token Ring Card ... .399

Tokenhub 4-port 355

Call for other
LAN Accessories

SPECIALS

HP Scan Jet 1425

HP Paint Jet 965

Lotus Ver 3.0 355

Kodak 150P 370

Complete Fax
Board 499

Okidata 391 625

Epson LQ1050 660

Panasonic 1124 319

HP-7475 Plotter 1595

SummaGraphic 365

LASER PRINTERS

HP Laser HID . . .

2650

HP Laser 2P

995

HP Laser III

1695

Panasonic 4450 ....

1395

Brother HL-8-E

1895

Nec LC 890

3195

Toshiba Laser 6 —

1095

MODEMS

Everex 2400 Int/Mnp

.179

Hayes 2400B

315

Hayes 9600B

875

USRobotics Hst/Dual

1150

More in Stock

Call

EXPORTS

Available

ALL QUOTED PRICES ARE CASH PRICES ONLY.
Visa and MasterCard 3% higher, American Express 5% higher

COMPUTERLANE

HOURS:
M-F 9-6
S 10-6

CORPORATE ACCOUNTS WELCOME
CALL FOR VOLUME DISCOUNTS
CONSULTANTS CALL FOR PRICING

1-800-526-3482 (omside ca)

(818) 884-8644 (In CA)
(818) 884-8253 (FAX)

22107 ROSCOE BLVD.
CANOGA PARK

V2 BLOCK W. OF TOPANGA

CA 91304

Prices subject to change without notice
* Quantities are limited

Compaq is a Registered Trademark of Compaq
IBM Is a Registered Trademark of International Business Machines

Circle 80 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 445

atctFULL page scanner *298

"■^ Includes FREE Microsoft Software:
Windows 2.0, Scan, Draw, Fonts, Lan. Modem & Fax

• PC/AT Compatible . Contrast Adjustment
. 200 Dots Per Inch ■ Writes Images to Your

• Automatic Sheet Feed Hard Drive (Required)

Deluxe OCR Software..*! 98

List Price =1295

JaSecomputbr

Ultra 486

$3698

Double The Power.
Twice The Speed

Monitor Optional
True 25 MHz. 80486 CPU

ptwer Meter

. Full Size Professional Case
. 101 Key Enhanced Keyboard
. 200 Watt Power Supply
. Built-in Clock/Calendar
. Assembled S Tested in U.SA
. One Year Warranty

. MB of 32 BIT RAM
Expands to 8+ 8 MB
Built-in High Speed Cache
100% Novella IBM
Compatible

1 2 MB 5'A" Disk Drive
Fast 1:1 interleave Dual Hard
Disk/Dual Floppy Disk Controller
weitck 3167 FPP Socket

Monitor & Hard Drive Options

40 MB 1 80 MB 1 ^0 MB
system \ System ) System
Complete Monographics System

H198 1*4298 1*6698

Complete VGA System

$6998

$4498 $4698

MEMORY UPGRADES

1000SE2MBcard..
1600 2 MB card .. . .
3100e 2 MB card . . •
3100SX 2 MB card .
3100SX4MBcard.

TOSHIBA
1428 3Z00SX 2 MB card . .
■ S298 3200SX 4 MB card .
' 1298 3200 3 MB card . . .
1298 5100 2 MB card .. .
«698 5200 2 MB card . . .
5200 8 MB card . . .
COMPAQ
2MB '398 / SLT 1 MB

LIE 1 MB '218

486/25 SystetnPro 8 MB

DeskPro upgrades as low as

IBM

PS/Z MDL 30/286 51 2K '78
PS/2MDL70 1MB "8

2 MB '218
2MB '238
2MB ^298

. 1298

. iess

. '468
. '298
. '298
'1198

1288
. '1098
. . '144

PS/2 MDL 80 1MB '168 ^

PS/2 MDL 80-A21.
Laser Printer

1MB

'128
AST

2 MB •258 3.5 MB '398

. '348
. . Call

486 2 MB upgrade

All other models available

HEWLETT-PACKARD
See bottom portion of ad for pricing information.
APPLE

'388

MAC Portable 1 MB card

All other models available

™'"™ .288

SupcrSport 286 1 MB . _. ■ ■ • ■ ■ -^^ ■ - ^gg
386-20/25/33 1 MB '108 I Mii

JADE COMPUTER

Super-386

16 MHz (SX)

*798

..^^^ MB expands to 8 MB

Monitor Optional

25 MHz Cache

M398

33 MHz Cache

M498

1 MB expands to 32 MB
64K Cache expands to 128K

1 MB expands to 8 MB
64K Cache not expandable

intel'

EPSON Panasonic

KX-1I80 .
KX-1191 .
KX-1 124 .
KX-1624 .

.=169
.=238
.5289
.=428

LX-810 ...=178
FX-850 ....Call
FX-1050 ...Call
LQ-510 . ..=289
LQ-850 ....Call
LQ-950 ....Call
LQ-1010 ...Call
LQ-1050 ...Call
LQ-2550 ...Call

EPL-6000 Call

TIml HEWLETT
mHiM PACKARD

New LaserJet IIP =998

H.P. LaserJet Hi =1698

H.P. DeskJet Plus =698

H. P. DeskWriter/For Mac =748

Extra Toner =98

Extra Ink Cartridge =19

Tripplite Battery Back-up

450 Watt UPS =398

750 Watt UPS =498

1200 Watt UPS =698

3'/z" Disk Drives

720K internal/external =78/178

I. 44 MB intemal/extemai .=88/=188
Tripplite Line Stabilizer

600 Watt Line Conditioner =89

1200 Watt Une Conditioner . . .=1 58
1 800 Watt Une Conditioner . . . = 1 88

No Surcharge
for Credit Cards!

8087 . . .
8087-2 .
8087-1 .
80287 . .
80287-8
80287-10
80287 XL

..=88

, = 118
, = 158
.=128
, = 198
,=228
,=228

80287-12 .=278
80387-SX .=318
80387-16 .=348
80387-20 .=388
80387-25 .=488
80387-33 .=598

Microsoft DOS

3.3 ^78

4.01 _ *88

ITT Co-Processors

2C87-8 =198 2C87-12 ....:-268

2C87- 10 . . . . =228 2C87-20 .... =328

VGA Package
Card $'148

Monitor

$298

640 X 480
Hi-Bes Ca:^

, 80386 processor running at
16MHz(SX). 25 MHz
or 33 MHz
, 384K Shadow RAM
, 1,2 MB or 1,44 MB Drive
, 1:1 interleave hard dek/
flODDV disk controller

. 80387 socket

. Full size case

. One 32-bit Five 16-bit

Two 8 bit slots
. 1 02 k^ enhanced keyboard
- 200 watt power supp^
. Clock/calendar

Monitor & Hard Drive Options (16 MHz SX)
Floppy 40 80

Only I Megabyte | Megabyte
Complete Monographics System

$948 1 $1348|M598

Complete VGA System

M298I M698 |M898

For 25 MHz Cache add 'S98
For 33 MHz Cache add %98

2400 Baud

Internal Modem
w/Software

1200 internal w/software =44

1200 baud external =88

2400 baud external =128

2400 PS/2 internal =198

$74

Trackballs

Logitech Trackman Serial =98

Logitecli Trackman BUS =108

MicroSpeed PC-Trac Serial =88

MicnoSpeed PC-Trac BUS =98

MicnoSpeed FastTrap Serial ....=108
MicroSpeed FastTrap BUS =118

Roland Plotters

DXY-1 100

All Roland Models Available

.=798

VGA

Panasonic

$468

1024X 768

14- .28 Dot Pitch

^ rx::! Hewlett

A^'^^jr l!!P-M PACKARD

pSpagePos^iptUllP/lll =398

Paafic Page PostSaipt U II

S 25 ,n'. (172 Fonts) UII/llP ■ ■ • ■ |^

POP 25 in 1 (172 Fonts) U III =398

^n pprotter.naCannd9ellP/ll/lll ■-■^2 48

4 MB Memory Can) for U 11/llD

Without RAM... ^98 2MB =^98

1 MB ='48 4MB 398

Newl Memory Card for U llP/lll

Without RAM... =98 2MB =«

1 MB ..=148 4MB 39^

JADECOMPUTER

Technicon 5 1 02

Printer $128

120 CPS. 9 PIN Printer

Near Letter Quality Printing . Four Print Styles
EPSON/IBM Compatible . One Year Warranty
international Character Set

Logitech

LogiMouse Hi-Rez. Bus . .
LogiMouse Hi-Rez Serial .

Microsoft BUS Mouse

200 DPI
w/ Drivers Software

$48

Tape Back-up

40 MB Internal =268

150 MB Internal =628

250 MB Internal =728

For External Add =128

Scanner

Diamond Flower HS-3000 Plus .=198

OCR Somvare for HS-3000 =88

Keyboard

102 enhanced click =68

Keyboard Drawer =34

CaSfomia

Torrance. Costa Mesa. Woodland Hills
Kearny Uesa. Sunnyvale

Texas Georgia Arizona

Addison. Houston Smyrna Phoenix
Not all Items in stock at our nine retail locations.

JADE COMPUTER

4901 W. Rosecrans Ave. Box 5046, Hawtliorne. CaBfomia 90ES1-5046 213-973-7707

Continental U.S.A. 1-800-421-5500 Inside Caiifbrnia 1-800-262-1710

10 Day Money Back Guarantee

lwllwl%^ VVe accept checks, credit cards (or purciiase orders from qualified firms and institutions.) No
surcharge on credit card orders. CA.. TX., GA. & AZ. residents add sales tax. Prices and availability

subject to change without notice. HOC minimum shipping and handing charge.

Circle 189 on Reader Service Card

MAIL

Complete Mailing List
Mnun^^cnieiit Software

The most advanced, professional-level mailing
list management system available for IBM and
compatible microcomputers. Save tfiousands
of dollars on postage, printing, and processing
costs.

• Unlimited number of names and addresses

• Sopfiisticated merge/purge duplicate
detection

• Complete postal presorting and barcoding

• Custom letters, labels, reports

• Convert data from dBase, ASCII, other formats

= Arc Tangent, Inc.

-_- A 121 Gray Avenue

= = Santa Barbara, CA 93101-1831
(805) 965-7277

Circle 30 on Reader Service Card
(RESELLERS: 31)

PLD Design
Software

Get Started with CUPL™ for only
$149.95

Now you can have a PLD Starter Kit
that gives you all the horsepower that
the CUPL PLD compUer offers, at a
fraction of the cost For more infor-
mation, call 1-800-331-7766 or 305-
974-0967. LOGICAL

DEVICKS, INC.

Circle 202 on Reader Service Card
(RESELLERS: 203)

486/33

33Mhz Intel i486 microprocessor.
128K liighi speed cactie one board.
4Mb of 70ns dynamic ram.
1.2 Mb 5'/.and 1.44 Mb 3/: drives.
150 Mb NEC ESDI hard disk.
Super VGA. 16 bit. 512 Kb card.
14 inch Super VGA monitor.
2 serial, 1 parallel and 1 game port.
Keyboard and MS compatible mouse.
DOS version 4.01 or 3.3 included.
Deluxe 6 bay Tower or AT case.
Burned in and tested. 1 yr. warranty.
25Mhz version available.
386/25 and 386/33 available.

No Flash, No Hype.
Just a good deal!

$5995.00

AME PRODUCTS • PO BOX 8207
MISSION HILLS • C.a,. 9 1346 • ( 8 1 81 892-9671

GET.». PC BUS

Single Board Computers

• DOS & .EXE on ROM in ten easy steps!

• PC/AT Bus Expansion

• Complete Systems • Cards $299

V50 uP, lOmtiz, CMOS, AT Code Compatible
5 Serial Ports, 1 Ivleg RAtvl, 256K ROM.
Piggyback: Floppy, Keyboard, SCSI, Printer.
BIOS with Utilities and Monitor

Call!

3^s^^,^3 (303)444-7737

656 Hawthorn, Boulder CO, 80304 FAX (303) 7M-9983

Circle 195 on Reader Service Card

Program

Your Chips

In Sets of 4 for $695.00

Special offer Now Includes:

Free UV eraser, CUPL starter Kit and
a $300.00 Factory Rebate with the

LOGICAL

EPLD, Micro obwices, me.

Progammer. 1-800-331-7766

Circle 204 on Reader Service Card
(RESELLERS: 205)

Write us. . .so they
won't call you

Many people enjoy receiving infor-
mation about products or services in
their homes by telephone.

But if you want fewer phone calls
from national advertisers, we can help.

Telephone Preference Service can ef-
fectively reduce phone calls from na-
tional advertisers. And, it's absolutely
FREE. Just send us your name, full ad-
dress, area code and phone number.
We'll tell participating national adver-
tisers to remove your name from their
calling lists.

After all, they only want to talk to
people who want to listen.

Telephone Preference
Service

Direct Marketing Association
11 West 42 Street, P.O. Box 3861
New York City, NY 10163-3851

Circle 114 on Reader Service Card

d Oisiributor Magnetic Media □>

511 □□ 5V HD

5s lOi'v

3\ DS

3)2 HD

895 1795

Canon
LBP-4

LASER BEAM PRINTER

OUR PRICE IS SO LOW THAT THE
MANUFACTURER WOULD BE VERY
UPSET IF WE WERE TO PUBLISH IT.
SO WE CAN ONLY SAY "THE PRICE
IS LOW & INCLUDES ONE TONER

CARTRIDGE & UPS TWO DAY AIR
DEUVERY"

CALL FOR PRICE

Di$i<etti

GCiC

NORTHEAST & CANADA

1-800-451-1849

PO BOX 10247, WILMINGTON. DE. 19850

SOUTHEAST

1-800-940-4600

PO BOX 4163. DEERRELD BEACH, FL 33442

MIDWEST

1-800-654-4058

PO BOX 1674. BETHANY. OK 73008

WEST - HAWAII & ALASKA

1-800-621-6221

PC BOX 12396, LAS VEGAS. NV. 89112

Minimum Order $20.00 NO SURCHARGE on VISA / MC
COD orders add $3.50 Shipping charges determined by
items and delivery method required by customer.
( Prices are subject to change without notice

FAX ( 405 ) 495-4598

Circle 20 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 447

Circle 56 on Reader Service Card

SHIPPING

Now

Incredible
Prices

3M Rewritable

Optical Disks

600 to 650 Mbyte
Erasable, Removable
Data Storage

00

each

$179

M61 if 10,

or more.
Quantities
above 25-
contact N
BOWIND.
800-877-0701

R'50 SERIES

Magneto Optical
Storage SuB-S^TEM

Plug & Play. Optical
Disk Drive w/power
supply SCSI cable,
software interface,
documentation

^31992'»

IBM and

Compatible.
$3124 Mac version. (DOES NOT
INCLUDE DISK). 800-877-0701

mm

1 ,'.iiti'

The Little ^ Big LAN

AMAZING
^75 NETWORK

Compatible with Twisted Pair or
COAX (Arcnet and Etfiernet
compatible) networks.
800-877-0701

VISA, MC, C.O.D.
FAX ORDERS 703-631-0708

Next Day or 2nd Day Delivery if
order received before 2pm E.S.T.

1-800-877-0701

Industries
Incorporated

4116 B Walney Road

Chantilly, VA 22021

Ph 703-631 -0700 FAX 703-631 -0708

Authorized Integrator ''^SIbJI

Optical Recording Department WjNjjayl

448 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

9-TrackTape
For Your

IBM PC/XT/AT/PS-2"

Read 1600 bpi9-track
tapes from a micro, mini or
mainframe in EBCDIC or
ASCII as mirror image or
by individual files.

Use the 2000 PC" for
disk backup, data inter-
change or archival storage.

PC/XT/AT/PS-2 are trademarl<s of IBM.
2000 PC is a trademark of Digi-Data.

DIGI-DATA CORPORATION
8580 Dorsey Run Road
Jessup, MO 20794-9990
(301) 498-0200
800-782-6395-
FAX (301) 498-0771
.First in Value

Circle 111 on Reader Service Card

X.25

SDLC

QLLC

HDLC

ADCCP

PAD

• C source code

• ROM-able

• Full porting provided

• No OS required

SB

GCOM, Inc.

41 E. University
Champaign IL61820
(217) 352-4266

Specialists in Computer Communications
FAX 217-352-2215

Circle 142 on Reader Service Card

DATA ACQUISITION

Systems for Lab, Factory & Field
PC Software Included
• Serial. Il/lodem, & Bus
• stand Alone Ability
Laptop & Handfield
• PC & MAC Cards
• Inexpensive
_ T^-^- OEM & VAR
S^^-g g, ^ . RTU's

FREE CATALOG & DEMO DISK !

I MsnuTacturers of Measurenen: & Ccn:rci s/s-
I terns for Laboratory. Industrial. S Field applica-
I tions Specialists m Battery-Powered systen^s

I for applications info; (201) 299-1615
. Box 246: Morris Plains. NJ 07950 USA

ELEXOR

Real Time
Waveform
Display.

Only CODAS waveform recording systems
offer true real time waveform display

• For IBM AT. PS/2 Micro Channel*, and
compatibles.

• Record up to 16 waveforms to disk in
real time at up to 50,000 samples per
second for instant playback, analysis,
and manipulation.

• Includes all necessary hardware and
software for fast, turnkey startup.

• Includes Microsoft C-compatible library
of function calls for customization.

For a FREE Evaluation Package, call:
1-800-553-9006. In Ohio, 1-216-434-4284.

ISSTRVMESTS, INC.

825 Sweitzer Ave.. Akron, OH 44311

"IBM, AT. PS/2, and .Micro Channel are trademarks Of refislered
Iradema.rks of IB.M Corp. Microsoft C is a trademark of Mkrosoft Oirp.

Circle 101 on Reader Service Card

New, Gridless, 100% Autoroutlng

Create schematics and PCBs quickly and
simply with HiWIRE-Plus® and your IBIVl
PC. With the new, gridless, multilayer autor-
outer (AR) for HiWIRE-Plus, creating printed-
circuit layouts is even faster. AR and
HiWIRE-Plus are each $895 and come with
30-day money-back guarantees. Credit
cards welcome.

WINTI^K

Corporation

1801 South St., Lafayette, IN 47904
(800) 742-6809 or (31 7) 742-8428

Circle 374 on Reader Service Card

CROSS-32 V2.0 META

ASSEMBLER

Table based absolute macro cross-assembler
using the manufacturer's assembly
mnemonics.

Includes manual and MS-DOS assembler disk
with tables for ALL of the following processors:

1802 64180 6801

37700 6502 6805

50740 65816 6809

7500 COP400 6811

SUPERS COP800 68000

8M8 TMS320 28

8051 TMS340 Z80

8085 TMS370 Z180

8086 TMS7000 Z280
8096 TMS9900 MORE...

I Users can create tables for other processors
or ask us, we have many morel

Generates listing, symbol table and binary,
Intel, and Motorola hexcode.

Free worldwide airmail shipping & handling.
US$199.00 CDN$239.00

UNIVERSAL CROSS-ASSEMBLERS

P.O. Box 6158
Saint Jorin, N.B..
E2L 4R6 Canada
Voics;Fax: (506)847-0681

Circle 124 on Reader Service Card

Circle 362 on Reader Service Card

Enjoy

MORE SPEED!

SAVE up to C$ 74.05

PLUS

get the extra IBM PC Special Issue

Send me BYTE for:

□ 1 year (12 issues) for C$ 35.95
(Save 33% off the newsstand cost)

EZI 2 years (24 issues) for C$ 68.95
(Save 36% off the newsstand cost)

LH 3 years (36 issues) for C$ 87.95
(Save 46% off the newsstand cost)

Name.

Company.
Address _

City/Code/Country

dH Payment enclosed CH Bill me

No-Risk Guarantee: If dissatisfied, cancel anytime for a full 1 00% refund. Your subscription will start in 6-8 weeks. Watch for it!
Single copy CS 4.50. The basic annual subscription rate is OS 42.00.

IB0C084

Profit from

MORE POWER!

SAVE up to 46%

PLUS

get the extra IBM PC Special Issue
Send me BYTE for: ^^^^

Company.

EH 1 year (12 issues) for C$ 35.95
(Save 33% off the newsstand cost)

2 years (24 issues) for C$ 68.95 Address

(Save 36% off the newsstand cost)

□ City/Code/Country

3 years (36 issues) for C$ 87.95 i— i rn

(Save 46% off the newsstand cost) ^ Payment enclosed U Bill me

No-Risk Guarantee: If dissatisfied, cancel anytime for a full 1 00% refund. Your subscription will start in 6-8 weeks. Watch for it!
Single copy CS 4.50. Ttie basic annual subscription rate is CS 42.00.

IB0C084

Gain

MORE APPLICATIONS!

SAVE up to 46%

PLUS

get the extra IBM PC Special Issue
Send me BYTE for: ^^^^

D 1 year (12 issues) for C$ 35.95 Company

(Save 33% off the newsstand cost)

CH 2 years (24 issues) for C$ 68.95 Address

(Save 36% off the newsstand cost)

EH 3 years (36 issues) for C$ 87.95
(Save 46% off the newsstand cost)

City/Code/Country

Payment enclosed I I Bill me

No-Risk Guarantee: If dissatisfied, cancel anytime for a full 100% refund. Your subscription will start in 6-8 weeks. Watch tor it
Single copy 0$ 4.50. Ttie basic annual subscription rate is CS 42.00.

IB0C084

BUSINESS REPLY MAIL

No Postage Stamp Necessary If Mailed In Canada

POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

BVTE

, Subscriptions
Box 4000

AGINCOURT, Ontario
MIS 9Z9

BUSINESS REPLY MAIL

No Postage Stamp Necessary If Mailed In Canada
POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

BVTE

, Subscriptions
Box 4000

AGINCOURT, Ontario
M1S 9Z9

BUSINESS REPLY MAIL

No Postage Stamp Necessary If Mailed In Canada
POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE

BVTE

.Subscriptions
Box 4000

AGINCOURT, Ontario
M1S 9Z9

MEMORY UPGRADES!

FIRST/

mURCEt

>^>^INTERIIIllllllini nil J

WE ACCEPT PURCHASE ORDERS FROM UNIVERSITIES,
QUALIFIED FIRMS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.

WE ACCEPT INTERNATIONAL ORDERS

3 day International delivery available via Federal Express or DHL!

CALL (714) 588-9866 .4~.o.v FAX (714) 588-9872

WE WILL BEAT ANY ADVERTISED PRICE

LASER PRINTER MEMORY

IBM PS/2 MEMORY

Models 30-286, Exp. Board 1497259

512KKit 30F5348 S54.00

2MB Kit 30F5360 S179.00

Models 70-E61/121,55SX,65SX

1MB 6450603 S89.00

Models 70-E51 1 21 ,50Z,S5SX,6SSX

2MB 6450604 S169.00

Models 55SX, 65SX, 34F3077 & 34F3011

4MB 34F2933 S499.00

Model 70-A21

2MB 6450608 S159.00

Model 80-141

1MB 6450375 SI 45.00

Models 80-111/311

2MB 5450379 S259.00

Models 80-A21/A31

4MB 6451060 S659.00

All Models 70 and 80
2-8MB Board w^2M

5450605 S499.00

2-1 4MB Board W/2M

34F3077 S599.00

4-1 6MB Board W/4M

34F3011 S999.00

Models S0,S0Z.55SX & 60
2-8MB Board W.2MB

1497259 S599.00

Models 50, 55Z, 60 & 65SX

2- 1 6MB Board W/2MB

6450609 S625.00

Hewlett-Packard LaserJet IIP & III

1MB 33474B S99.00

2MB 33475B SI 69.00

4MB 33477B S299.00

Hewlen-Packard LaserJet II & IID

1MB 33443B S99.00

2MB 33444B S169.00

4MB 33445B S299.00

Apple Laservrriter II and ll/NTX

1MB M6005 S89.00

4MB M6006 S349.00

IBM Laser 4019 and 4019e

1MB 1039136 S209.00

2MB 1039137 S375.00

3- 5MB 1038675 S489.00

Canon LBP-8II, 8IIR. 8IIT

1MB S63-1300 SI 29.00

2MB S63-1880 S189.00

4MB Part # N/A S345.00

Epson EPL5000

2MB 1BS401 S375.00

4MB Part # N A $745.00

First Source International also sells printer
memory for tlie AT&T 593, Toshiba Page
Laser 6, Packard Bell PB9500, Mannesmann
Tally 905 and NCR 6435.

2MB SIM265 S199.00

4MB SIM465 S309.00

Apple Macintosh SE, SE30, II, Ilex and llx

1MB Kit M0218 S95.00

2MB Kit M0219 SI 45.00

Apple Macintosh lici

4MB Kit M0292LL-A S285.00

16MB Kit Pans N/A S1445.00

Apple Macintosh llfx

4MB Kit M0375LL-A S31 9.00

15MB Kit Part « N/A S1450.00

COMPAQ MEMORY

DeskPro 286-E,386-20/20E/25

1MB 113131-001 S139.00

4MB 113132-001 S349.00

DeskPro 3868/16

1MB 113645-001 SI 39.00

4MB 112534-001 S349.00

DeskPro 286N, 386N and 386SX and 20

1MB 118688-001 S99.00

4MB 118690.001 S499.00

DeskPro 386N, 386SX and 20

2MB 118689-001 S169.00

DeskPro 386-33. 485-33 & SystemPro

2MB 115144-001 S200.00

8MB 1 16561-001 S1899.00

DeskPro 386-20e and 25e

1MB Board 113644-001 S225.00

4MB Board 113645-001 S569.00

DeskPro 386S

1MB Board 113633-001 S225.00

4MB Board 113634-001 S569.00

DeskPro 386/16 (Populate in this order)

1MB Kit 108071-001 S165.00

1MB Board 108069-001 S359.00

2MB Board 108069/71-001 S579.00

4MB Board 108070-001 S1049.00

8MB Board 108070/72-001 S1499.00

Premium Workstation 286/386SX, Bravo 286

512KKit 500510-010 S59.00

2MB Kit 500510-002 S169.00

Premium 3860 and 386-16

1MB Kit 500510-007 S95.00

4MB Kit 50051 0-008 S349.00

Premium 386-20

1MB Kit 500510-003 SI 29.00

4MB Kit 500510-004 S369.00

Bravo 385-SX

2MB Kit 500510-002 S179.00

4MB Kit 500510-008 S349.00

Premium 386-SX/1 6/25/33 & 486-33

Premium 486-25T/25TE/25/25E

1MB 500718-002 S95.00

Premium 486

2MB 500718-004 S342.00

Zenith Z-386 20 25/33 & 33E

1MB ZA36 3800ME S89.00

4MB ZA3800MK S499.00

Zenith Z-386 20/25 & 33

2MB 2A3600MG S169.00

Zenith Z-385 SX

2MB Z-605-1 S267.00

Vectra QS/16S and ES'12PC

1MB Kit D1540A S99.00

2MB Kit D1354A S175.00

4MB Kit D1542A S349.00

Vectra QS'20PC, RS/25PC, 20C and 25C

1MB Kit D1640A SI 05.00

4MB Kit D1642A S349.00

Vectra 485 PC

1MB Kit D2150A S89.00

4MB Kit D2151A S499.00

Vectra 486PC and 386/25 PC

8MB Kii D2152A S999.00

Vectra 386/25 PC

2MB Kit D2381A S266.00

ZENITH MEMORY

HEWLETT-PACKARD MEMORY

COMPAQ

LAPTOP MEMORY

TOSHIBA

Model lOOOSE'XE

1MB S289.00

2MB S399.00

Model T1200XE

2MB S249.00

Model T1600

2MB S249.00

Model T3100E

2MB $249.00

Model T3100SX

2MB S249.00

4MB S689.00

Model T3200SX

2MB S249.00

4MB S689.00

Model T510Q

2MB S249.00

Model T5200,T8500

2MB $249.00

8MB $1300.00

Portable 386

1 MB Kit S32S.00

4MB Extension Brd $1049.00

4MB Expansion Brd S1049.00

Portable III

51 2K Kit S69.CC

2MB Kit $325.00

Portable LTE 286

1MB $189.00

2MB $269.00

SLT-286

1MB $239.00

4MB $1325.00

SLT-386

1 MB $325.00

2MB $495.00

SuperSport 286 & 286E

1MB SI 89.00

SuperSport SX & 286E

2MB $449.00

SuperSport SX

2MB Alpha $549.00

2MB Beta S549.00

ProSpeed 286

1MB $289.00

4MB $900.00

ProSpeed 386

2MB $450.00

8MB $2250.00

Apple Macintosh Portable

1 MB $279.00

2MB S850.00

3MB S1 136.00

4MB SI 564.00

FIRST SOURCE INTERNATIONAL
WILL NOT BE UNDERSOLD ON
LAPTOP MEMORY!

COMDEX SPECIALS!

IBM PS/2 IMS EMS 4MB

5CZ,55SX.65SX.70 89 169 499

COMPAQ

286N,385N.385SXS20 .... 89 1 69 499

ZENITH

Z-386/20/25/33&33E 89 1 69 499

HEWLETT-PACKARD

Laserjet IIPSIII 99 169 299

Laserjet ilSIID 99 169 299

1ME 4Mi 8MB

Vectra 485PC 89 499 999

Prices are valid only Itiru /November 1990

EXPANSION BOARDS

All BocaRam Boards include
PrintSpooler and Ram Disk software.

BocaRam/XT

up ;o 2MB of expanded memory for any IBM PC.
XT. AT and 8-bil PC bus compatibles runnrng at CPU
speeds up to i2MHz. LIM'EMS 4.0 compatible
Uses 256Kxi Dram

OrderNow: SIMXTOO $119.00

with 2MB: SIMXT02 $279.00

BocaRam/AT Plus

up to 8MB for any AT or i6 bil compatible machines
running up lo 33MHz. Offers conventional,
expanded and or extended memcry. provides a
maximum oi 8MB LIM'EMS 4.0. Uses 1x1 Dram

OrderNow: SIMAT80 $139.00

with 2MB: SIM A T82 $279. 00

BocaRam 50Z

Up to 2MB zero-wait-state expanded and/Or
extended memory board destgned for IBM PS,'2
Models 50. 50Z, 60, and true MCA compatibles
Uses -^xiDram. 0S.2 corrpatible.

Order Now: SIMMC20 $155.00

with 2MB: SIMMC22 $290.00

SIMMS I DRAM

IBM TYPE

4Mx9-30 $410.00

lMx9-12 S69.00

1Mx9-10 $73.50

1 MX9-80 S79.00

1 Mx9-70 $89.00

256x9-12 $20.00

256x9-10 $23.50

256x9-80 $26.00

256x9-50 $35.00

APPLE-MAC

4MX8-80 S335.00

1MX8-12 551.00

lMx8-10 S55.00

1MX8-80 $68.00

256x8-12 $23.40

255x8-10 $24.00

256x8-80 $24.70

SIPPSAND
STATIC
COLUMN
AVAILABLE

1MX1

1MX1-12 S6.50

1MX1-10 S7.00

1MX1-80 $7.50

1MX1-70 $8.00

1MX1-60 S8.50

256KX4

256KX4-12 $6.85

256KX4-10 $7.00

245KX4-80 $7.20

256KX1

256KX1-12 SI .85

256KX1-10 S2.00

256KX1-80 S2.20

256KX1-70 S2.50

256KX1-60 $3.50

64KX4

64KX4-12 $2.30

64KX4-10 $2.40

64KX4-80 $2.60

64KX1

64KX1-15 $1.10

54KX1-12 S1.70

64KX1-10 S1.90

CALL TOLL FREE FROM ANYWHERE IN THE U.S. OR CANADA!

ORDER NOW: 1-800-535-5892

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1/ NO SURCHARGE ON MC OR VISA

I ✓ Terms: MC, Visa, AmEx (AEt- 4%t, COD, Cash,
Net 30 on purchase orders from qualified firms,

j 20% Restocking fee on all non-defective returns
& refused orders RMA # required.

✓ Manufacturers pari numbers are tor your
convenience, all products third party

✓ PRICES AND AVAILABILITY SUBJECT TO
CHANGE.

First Source International, Inc.
36 Argonaut, Suite 140
Aliso Viejo, California 92656
Tel. (71 4) 588-9866
FAX (714) 588-9872
"The Only Source"

Order Desk Hours:

Monday thru Friday 8:00-5:00
Saturday 10:00-3:00
Use our 24 hour-a-day voice mail or FAX!

PLEASE SEND ALL P.O. S AND MAIL ORDERS TO:

First Source International, Inc.
P.O.Box 3676
Laguna Hills, OA 92653

WHY SHOULD YOU BUY FROM F.S.I. ? \

✓ We will meet or beat any advertised
price!

✓ Limited Lifetime Warranty available,
1/ All products guaranteed 100%

compatible in form, fit and function or
you- money back,

✓ No surcharge on Visa or Mastercard,

✓ Most orders shipped Same Day!

WE ARE "THE ONL Y SOURCE!'

FIRST SOURCE IS "THE ONLY SOURCE" FOR MEMORY

Cinle 135 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 136) NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 449

Industrial & Lab /^tomation with PCs

$395

AU-in-One 80286-12
CPU Card

PCA-6125

12MHz 80286 miCToprocessor
Socket for 80287 math coprocessor
AMI BIOS assures compatibility

• Memory configuration: 512K. IM, 2M & 4M

• Built-in interface for 2 IDE H/D and 2 F/D
On-boaid: 1 parallel/2 serial ports

\XS1 CMOS for low power consumption

408-293-6786

1340 lUly Rd., «3U. San Jose, a 95122 FAX 408-293-4697

19" Rack Mounted
Multi-Sync Monitor

IPC-650/651M $895

• 14" Multi-sync monitor

• Fully compatible thru Super VGA & 8514/A

• 1024 dots X 768 lines with .31mm dot pitch

• 19" ElA RS-310C standard rack

• Nickel coated aluminum housing

• Lexan overlay protects CRT screen

ISA & Canada: San Jose.CA
Tel: -108-293-6-86 Fax: -408-293-4697
Europe & .Asia: Taipei. Taiwan
Tel: 886-2-9I&456" Fav 9I&4566

Industrial PC Card Cage
with 8 Slot Backplane
[FC-6010 $195

Open-style framework for flexible installation in a
custom enclosure

8 slot baclqjlane with LED power indicators
• 4 layer PCB with dedicated power & ground planes
Supports both standard PC power conneaion and
industrial screw terminal connection
Special hold-down clamp protects plug-in cards

408-293-6786

1340 Mly Rd.. #314, San Jose, a 95122 FAX 408-293-4697

Circle 21 on Reader Service Card

Circle 21 on Reader Service Card

Circle 21 on Reader Service Card

Advertise your
computer products
through
BYTE BITS

(2" X 3" ads)

For more information
call Mark Stone at
603-924-2695

BYTE

One Phoenix Mill Lane
Peterborough, NH 03458

Circle 59 on Reader Service Card

8fi

MiKk in V.SJL

JC GOLD CARD

jxhe JCS 486, the New Performance
■ Leader in Personal 486 Sjstemboards

' Intel S04S£/2S(B«) CPU

■ 8KB Cseh« irle^ated in CPU

I ' Math Copfocossor Ho^^ted in CPU

■ Shadow RAM for Video & System BIOS
' Second Level Cache Memoiy

expandadable to 512KB
* Weitok 4167 numeric copnxee«or socket

■ 30 DAY HONEY BACK QUARA^fTEE

486 Complete System S3595

Include 4tB Memoiy, ISOIB ESDI »DD,
ESDI CechB Corlroller, \2 or 1.44MB FDO,
MS DOS, AT VO, 101 Keylioird

SOlitne CPU Bd, C&T chipset $ S90
mums CPU Bd, C&T cUpsa $ S9S
tOjStns Cache Bd, C&T chipset $1095
Dealer inquiries wdcome
Jemini Electronics (408)727-0986

3400 De Le Cme BM, Unl T

S«ita Clara Ca. 9S054 (408)727-7687

SCHEMATIC TO PCLAYOUT $500
INCLUDES AUTO ROUTER ^

EZ-ROUTE Version II from AMS for IBM PC. PS/2 and Com-
patibles is an integrated CAE System which supports 256
layers, trace width from 0.001 inch to 0.255 inch. Ilexible
grid. SMD components and outputs on Penplotlers as well
as Photo plotters and printers-
Schematic Capture S100. PCB Layout S250. Auto Router S250.

FREE EVALUATION PACKAGE
30 DAYS MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

1-800-972-3733 or |305) 975-9515

ADVANCED MICROCOMPUTER SYSTEMS. INC.

1321 N.W. 65 Place - Ft. Lauderdale. FL 33309

Circle 39 on Reader Service Card

How to Protect
Your Computer

And Make It Last Longer

FREE nione\ -making literature. What >ou need
to know about UPS — uninterruptible power
systems. How to get complete protection from
power line problems. 500 VA lo 18 KVA models
from the world's largest manufacturer of
single-phase L'PS.

Best Power Technology, Inc.

P.O. Box 280. Necedah. Wl" 54646

ToU-Free (800) 356-5794, ext. 3871

(608) 565-7200. ext. 3871
See us at COMDEX, Booth #N4472

Terminal Emulation
TEK 4105/4010

• Tektronix 4105

• Tektronix 4010/4014

• VT32a VT220 VT102^ jSj

• Picture files ^Ki

• VGA and EGA support

• l-ligli resolution liardcopy

VT320

• VT320, VT220 VT102 emulation

• File transfer

• 132 column modes
' Color support

' Hotkey

• Extensive network support

u u Diversitied Computer Systems, Inc.

3775 iris Avenue. Suite IB
Bouider, CO 80301 (303) 447-9251
FAX 303-447-1406

Trademarlfs: VT102, '/T220 — DEC- Tektrontx — Teiitronics inc.

Circle 118 on Reader Service Card

I FREE CATALOG I

RS-232C INTERFACE & MONITORING

EQUIPMENT CATALOG

WRITE or CALL for YOUR ffiff
COMPREHENSIVE B & B
ELECTRONICS CATALOG TODAY!

Pages and pages of photographs
and illustrated, descriptive text
forB&B's complete line of RS-
232 converters. RS-422 con-
verters, current loop convert-
ers, adapters, break-out box-
es, data switches, data split-
ters, short haul modems,
surge protectors, and much,
n^uch more. Most products meet
FCC Part 15J. Your RS-232 needs
for quality, service and competitive
prices will be more than met by 6&B
ELECTRONICS. Manufacturer to you, no mid-
dleman! Money-back guarantee! Same-day
shipment! One-year warranty on products!
Technical support is available.

Write For Your FRfl Catalog Today!

B&B electrnnicK
rtrtANUFACTURING COf^PANY

4002L Baker Road P.O. Box 1040 • Onawa. IL 61350

Phone: 815-434-0846

Circle 192 on Reader Service Card

Circle 46 on Reader Service Card

Circle 40 on Reader Service Card

Circle 61 on Reader Service Card

$5900

Circle 71 on Reader Service Card

LOOKING FOR

SUPPLIERS

CIKEN SHOJI CO., LTD. is a leading distri-
butor of computer peripheral products in
Japan.

To correct Japan's enormous trade surplus,
Japanese users are being encouraged to
purchase foreign products, generating de-
mand for software, programming tools,
utilities, and application software.
We are offering you the opportunity to in-
troduce yourself and your products to the
enormous Japanese market through CIKEN
SHOJI.

Please contact us by FAX now.

GEKEN SHOJI CO., LTD.

FAX: 81-52-251-0229
2nd Floor, Marukoshi BIdg,
6-5, 4-Chotne. Sakae, iVaka-ku,
Nagoya. Japan.

Circle 397 on Reader Service Card

MULTI-SPEED !!!
9 TRACK TAPE SUBSYSTEM
for IBM PC/AT/386

1 YEAR WARRANTY

• IBM/ANSI compatible at 800*/1 600/3200 bpi

• Controller, cables and software included

• Interfaces for PS/2*, Xenix* and DEC*

• SCSI*, AT or MCA* Bus I/O at 25/50/100 ips

*0PTIONAL SHOWN W/OPTIONAL DUST COVER

AKSystems Inc

20741 MarillaSt. Chatsworth CA 91311
TEL:81 8/709-81 00 FAX: 818/407-5889

Circle 14 on Reader Service Card

Special Offer

Introduction of new transputer products

CD-TBIO/AT 10 slot TRAM
motherboard. Onboard root
transputer with 1-20 MB
memory, FIFO, C004 and T222.
High speed 16-bit AT bus inter-
face. BOOS compatible.
Entry level price . . .US$ 2,700

Size 2 TRAM'S with T800-20
CD-TRAM2-1, 1MB RAM US$ 1,040
CD-TRAM2-2, 2MB RAM US$ 1,320
CD-TRAM2-4, 4MB RAM US$ 2,240
CD-TRAM2-8, 8MB RAM US$ 3,590

Cresco Data A/S, 148, Oeresundsvej
DK-2300 Copenhagen S., Denmark
Phone -H45 31 55 42 70
Fax -1-45 31 55 01 53

Circle 85 on Reader Service Card

There is a Difference.

UfetimFree Updates

A programmer is not just another programmer. That
is why BP Microsystems is commited to brin^g our
customers the highest quali^' programmers at an
affordable price. A good example of this commitment
is the EP-1 EPROM Programmer Tlie EP-1 supports
\irtually every 24- or 28-pin E/EPROM. And. all of
our programmers include lifetime free software
updates and an unconditional money back guarantee.

BP

MICROSYSTEMS

1-800-225-2102

(713) 461-9430

Circle 57 on Reader Service Card

Cross-Assemblers from $50.00
Simulators from Si 00.00
Cross-Disassemblers from SI 00.00
Developer Packages

from S200.00(a S50.00 Savings)

Make Programming Easy

Our Macro Cross-assemblers are easy to use. Witfi powerful
corxjitional assembly arxJ unlimiled include files.

Get It Debugged-FAST

Recover Lost Source!

Our line of disassemblers can help you re-create the original
assembly language source.

Thousands Of Satisfied Customers
Worldwide

PseudoCorp has been providing quality solulions for
microprocessor problems since 1985.

Processors

Intel S04S RCA 1S02,OS lnte{ 3051 Intel 30S6,196hc

Motorola eSOO Motorola 6S01 Moiorola 68HC1 1 Motorola 6805
Hitachi 6301 Motorola 6809 MOS Tech 6502 WDC 65C02

RoclfwBll 65C02 Inlel 6060,S5 Zilog Z30 NSC SOO

Hitachi HD64130 Mot. 68k.8,l0 2log 28 Slog Super B

• All products require an IBM PC or eompatible.

Fof Information Or To Order Call:

PseudoCorp

716 Thimble Shoals Blvd, Suite E
Newport News, VA 23606
(804) 873-1947 FAX:(804)873-2154

Circle 293 on Reader Service Card

LOW COST
INTERFACE
CARDS FOR
PC/XT/AT

3iSI

RS-485/422 Card [PC485] $95/125

• Serial A5>-nc Communication up lo4,000fl; 2or4wires; NS16450UART;

• Can be configured as C0M1-C0M4; Maximum Baud Rate 56KB.

• Flexible configuration options. RTS or DTR control of transmission direaion.

• Full/Half duplex operation. Supports hardware handshaking (RTS.CTS).

• Dual drivers/receivers;Handles 64 de\ices:Compatible with most comm. sftwr.

• High speed \ersion a%-ailab!e (supports baud rates up to 256KB ) - S165

Dual-Port RS-485/422 [PCL743] $175"

• Two independent channels / UaRTs; 2 or 4 wire operation. Max. Baud 56KB.

• Dipswitch configurable as COMl-4 (IRQ2-7). On board terminator resistor.

IEEE-488 Card [PC488A]

$145

• Includes DOS Device Driver and sample Communication program in BASIC.

• Additional sample programs in C, Pascal & Assembly - S50.

• IRQ (1.6). D.\£4 channel 1 or 2. Up lo 4 boards per computer.

• Compatible with most IEEE-488 Software packages for IBM-PC

• I/O Addresses and Control Registers compatible with NTs GPIB-PCIIA.

IEEE-488 Card [PC488C]
With Built-in Bus Analyzer

$445

• Sofware Suppon for BASICA. QuickBASIC and GWB.ASIC.

• Additional libraries for C, Pascal. FORTRVS. Assembly available - S50 (all)
Full range of Talker, listener. Controller, Serial/Parailel Poll. SRO. etc...

• Powerful menu-driven BUS .A\AL\'ZER can be run in the background while
488 programs or commands are executed; Features Program Stepping. Break
points. Real Time Bus Data Capture (4K buffer). Instant Screen Toggling.

• Complete ControIIer/Talker/Lislenercapabilit>'. Based on NEC- 7210 .

• Memory-resident Printer Port Emulation Uiiiit>- included (LPTl-3).

• Compatible »ilh NTs GPIB-PCII . TMS-99 14 based card - S345.

DIGITAL I/O Card [PCL720] $175

• Input: 32 TTL compatible channels; Input load is 02 mA at 0.4V.

• Oulpui: 32 TTL compatible channels;Sinks 24mA{0JV): Sources 15mA{2.0V)

• CounterA'imer: DC to 2.6MHz; 3 channels; 16 bit counters; 6 counting modes.

• Breadboard area for prototyping. Dipsniich I/O port selection (200-5F8 hex).

LOW COST

DATA

AQUISmON

& CONTROL

CARDS

FOR PC/XT/AT

12BITA/D&D/A [PCL711s] $295

• .\'D converter: 8 single-ended charmlels; De\ice: .AD574; Conversion time
less than 25 >i5ec; Input range: =5V; Software Trigger Mode only.

• D/A converter 1 channel: 12 bit resolution: 0 lo t5V,'I0V Output Range.

• Digital I/O: 16 Input / 16 Output channels; All I'Os TTL compatible.

• External Wiring Terminal Board with mounting accessones included.

• Utility Routines and Demo. 'Sample Programs for B.ASIC and Quick-BASIC.

12 BIT A/D & D/A [PCL812]

$395

• A/D converter. 16 single ended inputs; Device : AD574; Conversion time less
than 25 >iSec: Built-in programmable pacer; Input ranges: = lOV, =5V, = IV.

• D/A converlen 2 channels ; 12 bit resolution.; Output Range 0-5 V ,

• DigiUl I/O: 16 Input/ 16 Output channels: All I/Os TTL compatible.

• Counter: 1 channel programmable interval counter/ timer; Uses Intel 8254.

• DMA and interrupt capability. Utility software for Basic included.

FAST 12BIT A/D/A [PCL718] $795

• .AT) converter: 16 single ended or 8 differential channels; 12 bit resolution;
Programmable scan rate; Built-in Interrupt and DNLA control circuitry.
Conversion speed 60,000 srapls/sec (standard), 100,000 smpls/sec (optional).

• Input ranges: Bipolar =10V, =5V, :2JV, =1V, =0JV: Unipolar 10,S,2,1V.

• D/A converter 2 channels; Reso lution: 12 bits res; Set tling time: S^sec; ^SV

• Digital I/O: 16 OUT. 16 IN; TTL compatible; Alt I'Os TTL compatible.

• Counter:16 bit progr. interval counter; timer; Uses Intel 8254; Pacer clock;

• Software: Utility software for BASIC and QuickBASIC included,
Supponed by LabDAS (S195/495). .ASYST. LABTECH. UnkelScope

6 Channel 12 bit D/A [PCL726] $495]

• Output Ranges: Oio +5V,0to -^-lOV, -5V, -lOVor sink4-20mA.

• Settling time; 70tiS. Unearit)- = ],'2biL Voltage output driving capacity: =5mA

• DigStafl/0: 16 digital inputs and 16 digital outputs; TTL compatible.

STEPPER MOTOR CARD

$395

• Capable of independent and simultaneous control of up to 3 stepper motors,

• Speed: Proerammable from 3.3 PPS to 3410 PPS; Built-in acceleration control,

• Output Mode: One clock (Pulse, Direaion) or two clock (CW. CCW pulses)

• Step position Read-back: Opto-isolated outputs; Crvstal based timing.

• Includes 8 bit digital input/output fxin. Order P/N CL-738B]

MC / VISA / AMEX Call today for datasheets!

Circle 62 on Reader Service Card

B&C MICROSYSTEMS INC.

750 N. P.ASTORU AVE.. SUNNYVALE. CA 94086 LSA
TEL: (408)730-5511 FAX: (408)730-5521 BBS: (408)730-23 17

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 451

33 MHz 80486 Motherboard

Faster than ttie Everex Step™ & ALR
15 MIPS! $2,990 Qtyl (Ok)

Features:

• 64Ko(25a<WnteBad(Cact>e • Trie32-BitMemoiyExp.to16MB

• 8K Interna) Cadie • Support Weitek

• Dual Read/Write Cacfie • UNIX, OS^ & Novell CompatiWe

• Transparent Refresh • 1 Year Full Warranty

' UurcCBAvaiSt*

MIPS

• Complete Documenlation

Cache

Ok

4M

486/33 15.2 64K 2990 3290

486/25 11.4 64K 2599 2899

386/33 8.3 64K 1429 1729

386/25 6.2 64K 1229 1529

Technology Power Enterprises, Inc

47273 Fremont Blvd. Fremont CA 94538
Tel (415) 623-9162 FAX (415) 623^462

niT AAflRVMflC

of discounting
Tandy® computers.
Fax and Radio
Shack® products

Circle 338 on Reader Service Card

RadM/haek® Tandy'

We will meet or beat. . .
GUARANTEED LOWEST PRICES

«lT ^AflflVMflC INDUSTRIES INC.

225U Katy Fwy.
Katy (Houston), TX 77450
1-7U-392-0747 FAX (713) 574-4567

Toll Free 800-231-3680

Cirtle 214 on Reader Service Card

Data Acquisition Processor™

Onboard Intelligence For IBM PC/XT/ AT/38«

• 16 MHz 80C186 for general processing

• 20 MHz DSP56(X)1 for digital signal processing

• Sustained digital signal processing of 10 MIPS

• FFT and FIR filtering without programming

• Acquires analog and digital inputs to 235K s/s

• Buffers and processes input data as required

■ Updates analog or digital outputs to 250K s/s

• Over 100 commands without programming

• Custom commands may be written in C

Call for FREE Demo Diskette

MlCROSTAR

Laboratories ,

(206) 881-4286

2863 152 Ave. N.E.
Redmond, WA 98052
FAX (206) 881-5494

Circle 227 on Reader Service Card

:OMPUTER AIDEI
INSTRUCTION

HYPERTEXT, LAN NETWORKS,
LANGUAGE TRAINING, SHOWS,
DEMO DISKS
Low-Cost Digital Audio for Windows 3.0
Protected / Real Modes

IBM-PC DIGITAL VOICE / SOUND
from $ 20 .ph, ., „odui., to $640

Quality Software / Hardware
- in use worldwide!

30 Day Money-Back Guarantee if not Satisfied

JUST LIKE HAVING A DAT TAPE RECORDER IN A PC.
Fastest, easiest Editors with the most features for the price.
Quick, simple hardware , software Installation.
Use for Foreign Language training / communications.
For Business: Training, SWe Show's - witri Grasp. ShowPsrtner F/X ..
For Engineering: Function Gen., Clear Voice Aiarms, Storage Scape-
For Fun: Creare Yo>jr Own Mac-like 8ooi-uo Sounds. ARe.- Your V&ce...
Orders: 800-969-4411 by SiltCOR Sliack FAX: 408-374-4412

5120 Campbell Ave. #112, San Jose, CA 95130.

Technical: 408-446-4521

.Ask for FREE PRODUCT CATALOG of IBM-PC sound products.
Developers: Ask about TurboSound - PC voice sound engine.

For OZ-Wizard/
lO-Electronio Organizer

128 KB RAM CARD
for GZ-Wizard/IQ-Electronic Organizer Series.
Trader request desired!

[TJ

RMS GmbH
BauerlandstraBe 99
2390 Flensburg
West-Germany
Tel, -49-4 61-4 20 39
Fax -49-4 61-4 50 26

Circle 315 on Reader Service Card

Circle 28 on Reader Service Card

FACTORY SALE

AST RamPaqe Plus 286

Expanded Memory Board
For

IBM XT /286 AT and compatibles
Up to 8Mb of EMS 4.0 Expanded Memory

Configurations

0Kb $230,00

512Kb $275,00

2Mb $350,00

8Mb $675.00

* Two Year Factory Warranty

* FREE Stiipping on PrePaid Orders

* Immediate Delivery

* Dealer Inquiries Welcome

Galaxy Electronics Inc.

33 Freeman Street

Newark, NJ 07105

201 344-581 2 FAX 51 6 374-41 70

Circle 396 on Reader Service Card

The Ideal Keyboard cover!

Protect your computer and eliminate down-
time caused by liquid spills, contaminants,
environmental hazards, etc. with VIZIFLEX
SEELS ■ the only keyboard cover that:

• Remains securely in-place during the
operation of the keyboard and will not
interfere with computer performance in
anyway

• Is designed to "form-fit" to the exact con-
tours of the keyboard to provide superior
tactile sensitivitiy & feel for individual keys,

• Consists of UltraflexTM material, a trans-
parent, flexible "film" which allows all
"markings" to be clearly visible,

VIZIFLEX SEELS are the only keyboard covers
for your computer!

I 16 E. Lafayene St., Hackensack. Nj 07601

SAME DAY SHIPPING

R & R Electronics

6050-X, McOonough Drive, Norcross, GA 30093
(404) 368-1777 • Fax (404) 368-9659

Prices subject to change without notice

SIMMs !

PS/2. AST etc. Call 256Kx9-80

lMx9-70 $59 256Kx9-100

lMx9-80 $55 lMx8-80

lMx9-100 $52 Other Cards

$18
$17
$50
Call

D-RAMS

256K-70

$2.50

64x1-100

$1.80

256K-80

$2.30

64x4-100

$2.75

256K-100

$2.20

256x4-100

$6.00

256K-120

$2.10

lMxl-80

$5.25

256K-150

$2.00

lMxl-100

$5.15

INTEL-

IIT- CYRIX -WEITEK

8087

$ 88

80287-12

$275

8087-2

$115

80387-SX

$288

8087-1

$165

80387-16

$315

80287-6

$135

80387-20

$355

80287-8

$185

80387-25

$445

80287-10

$210

80387-33

$548

& 1

800-736-3644 |

VIDEO FRAME GRABBERS

MODEL RESOLUTION ^

HRT 256-4 256 x 256 x 4 495
HRT 256-8 256 x 256 x 8 795
HRT 512-8 512 x 512 x 8 995
HRT 512-24 512 x 512 x 24 1995

- IBM PCrta/AT COMPATIBLE

- DiGITALIZE IN REAL TIME

■ COMPOSITE VIDEO IN

• 24 BIT RGB OUT except r^odel HRT 256-4
16 level gray scale out

- SOFTWARE LIBRARY OF IMAGE ANALYSIS ROUTINES

■ FREE SOFFWARE UPGRADES TO REGISTERED OWNERS

■ FULL CREDIT ON UPGRADE PURCHASE IN FIRST YEAR
RETURN OLD BOARD AND JUST PAY DIFFERENCE

HIGH RES TECHNOLOGIES
I I OT P.O. BOX 76
n n I LEWISTON, N.Y. 14092
PHONE 416-497-6493 FAX 416-497-1988

Circle 371 on Reader Service Card

Circle 296 on Reader Service Card

Circle 161 on Reader Service Card

Arlington Electronics

386-SX-16

$1198

286-12 40Mb $ 989
386-25 40Mb $1549
386-33 40Mb $1889

64K Hi speed cache

All systems include:

• Mono graphics monitor

• 40 Mb Teac IDE HDD

• 1.2 or 1.44 Mb Teac FDD
' 1 Mb 80ns main memory
•101 Keytronics keyboard
-MS-DOS™ 3.3 or 4.01

• Choice of 3 case designs

• 1 year warranty ^.

3% Shipping charge MasterCard
_ _ _ AMEX

1-80 0 833-3590

Circle 33 on Reader Service Card

UNIVERSAL
PROGRAMMER
& TESTER

FOR PC XT/AT/386

MODEL: ALL-03

$695

INCLUDES:

• Main Module

• SAC-201 Card

• D-2S Cable

• Software

• Manual & Device List

a E(E)PR0M5 general

NMOS & CMOS [16k to 512k, 1M to 4M BITs)

■ BIPOLAR PROMs

■ PAL. CMOS PAL GAL, PEEL, EPLD, FPL

a Microcomputer (8748, 8751. 87C51 & Z8 series)
a IC TEST ITTL 74/54 & 40/45 series}

■ MEMORY TEST

a HEX TO BINARY code converter for INTEL 80/86 HEX

MOTOROLA S1/S2 HEX and TEKTRONICS HEX
a HIGH SPEED

a 40 PIN test socket with 40 sets of software controlled

circuit, 40 sets of programmable
a ■■GO" KEY & ■■GOOD" —LED permit stand alone machine

operation
a 4 SOCKET ADAPTER {OPTION)
— 7 Year Warranty & 30 Days Money Back Guarantee —

ORDER TOLL FREE 1-800-633-3449

IN CALIF. (Tel): 408-748-8491 (FAX) 408-748-8492
MICROIMICS

1 400 Coleman Ave.. #D-1 3. Santa Clara. CA 95050

Circle 96 on Reader Service Card

Intelligent Solutions

NetWare, DOS, OS/2 & Xenix

SCSI

CONTROLLERS
FOR ISA & MCA

Novell tested
unider NetWare 286

Use with NetWare
286 or 386

Use any size
SCSI disk drive

Handle large SCSI
hard drives and
erasable optlcals

Phone: (216) 234-6387
FAX: (216) 234-2233

The SCSI Professionals
6801 ENGLE ROAD, CLEVELAND, OH 44130

TESTED AND
APPROVED

NetWore Compatible

DYNAMIC RAMS

I/'

4MX9 80ns
PS2 2M 604/608
1 MX9 80ns
1 MX8 80ns

256x4 100ns

IMXI 100ns

41464 100ns
41256 120ns

5*1258 80ns
4164 120ns

Foe quanta c secret. - sn-speed pans.

$295.00
$135.00
$ 51.00
$ 47.00
$ 5.25

• MATH COPROCESSORS

3C87

IIT.'CVRIX

S CALL

80387-33

33mHz

S540.00

2C87-20

20mH:

S245.0O

80387-25

25niHz

S435.00

2087-12

12rRHz

S189.00

80387-20

20mH;

S350.00

2087-10

SI 75.00

80387-te

16^Hz

S305.00

8087-1

3155,00

80387SX

16.-nHz

$275.00

■ V.20

S8.5/15

I.e. EXPRESS

ORDER: (800) 877-81 880

CALL FOR CURREr/r PRICES & VOLUME M
Prce SJ^c.!! Icf MS.-. WaswCa-sVsa 3% Pncss an SuC^ to ffong*

Aa MERCHANDISE IS 1 00% GUARftNT^ED Wmn PROMPT DEUVERY.

Circle 188 on Reader Service Card

Circle 200 on Reader Service Card

T-1 0 UNIVERSAL PROGRAMMER

EPROM a PLD a Bipolar PROM

■ Built-in LOG & SMT ZIF sockets to 44 pins

■ Individual pin driving

■ Point & shoot menus, with MOUSE support

■ Device updates on disi< & BBS

■ Built-in margin testing

■ Vector testing

■ User definable test parameters

■ Full screen editing in 21 formats

■ Intelligent identifier

SUNRISE ELECTRONICS, INC.

524 S. Vermont Ave. ■ Glendora. GA 91740

(818)914-19261

16-BIT RESOLUTION
ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL

CONVERTER
12,000 SAMPLES/SEC
for IBM PC, XT & AT
SINGLE PIECE PRICE
$475

We manufacture a broad line
of data acquisition and control
hardware and software for Apple
and IBM computers.

Call for quotes on custom
hardware or complete systems.

LAWSON LABS, INC.

74 4th AVE. W.N.
KALISPELL, MT 59901
800 321-5355 or 406 257-5355
FAX 406 257-5572

Circle 63 on Reader Service Card

PC BASED UNIVERSAL
DEVICE PROGRAMMER

$695/895

• PregramsEE/EPROMs. MICROs, BIPOLARsJ>ALs, GALs. EPLDs. PEELS,
(current libraries support over 900 de%-ices by over 55 manufacturers).

• Software driven pin drivers. D/A generated programming voltages (8 bit
DACs used to generate voltages from 5-25V wth 0.1 V resolution for al! pins).

• Fast device programming / verify / read via dedicated parallel interface.

• Upgradeable for viriually any future programmable devices up to 40 pins.

• Self-subsistent of)eration. No additional modules or plug-in adapters required.

• Includes user friendly MEMORY BUFFER FULL SCREEN EDITOR.
Commands include: Fill, Move, Insert, Delete. Search. Data entrv can be done
in .ASai or HEX form. FUSENUP EDITOR for Logic devices.

• Friendly Menu-Driven interface. Device seleaioti by P/N and Manufaclurer.

• Supports S/16/32 bit data word formats.

• Programming algorithms: Normal, Intelligent I & II, Quick Pulse Program-
ming. Automatic selection of fastest algorithm for any given pan.

• Verify operation performed at normal & worst case operating voltage.

• Functional lest: JEDEC standard funaional testing for logic devices.
TTL Logic functional test for 74xx/54xx series devices and memory devices.
Test library can be updated by the user. User deilnable test pattern generation.

• File formats accepted: JEDEC (ftill). JEDECOiemal). Binary, MOS Tech-
nologj-. .Motorola Hex, Intel Hex, Tektronix Hex.

• Base price ($695) includes Interface card, cable, Memon'-i- Micro + Bipolar
librarv-, TTL, CMOS'MEMORY device lest capability, one year free updates.

• Complete price ($895) includes all of the above plus Logic Device Library.

• Library updates can be received via floppy or B&C Customer Support BBS.

• Full I year warranty. Customer support via voice line, Fax &. dedicated BBS .

UNIVERSAL RS-232
PROGRAMMER

$345/495

• Programs EE/EProms, ZPRams.Inlel Micros.FIash EProms„Memory Cards.

• Stand-Alone Mode for EE'EProm and Memory Card Duplication / Verify.

• .AJi 2-1, 28.32 pin EE/EProms to 4 MBits (upgradeable to 32 megabits).

• Micros:8741,'A,-2'.A,-4,-g,-9.-51.-C5!.-C51F.\'B,-52,-53,-55.-C52I,-C541,9761.

• Model LPI00(S345). Model UP200 ($495) accepts dedicated modules.

• Memory Cards Prog.famming Module (Seiko'Epson.Fujitsu.) - S145.

• G.A.NG Programming Module (4 sockets) ■ $145.

• Optional buill-ln Eraser/Timer module - $50; Conductive foam pad.

• On-Board Programming capabilify: Custom interface modules available.

• Userfriend._ Menu-Driven Interface Program fof IBM-PC and Macintosh.

• Can be operated with any computer containing an RS-232 serial port.

• OENf open board programmer configurations available (from S245).

• One year free software updates and Customer Support.

• Customer support via voice line, dedicated BBS or fax; Full I year warranty.

INTELLIGENT
ROM EMULATOR

$395

• Emulates 2716 through 27512 EProms (2k to 64k bytes) with a single unit.

• M^bit parts can be emulated with multiple units (Mega adapter required).

• Connects to the staadard parallel printer port. Uses standard printer cable.

• FAST data loading via parallel printer pon (64k bvies in less than 10 seconds).

• Inielligem nn-Circuit-EmuIalor* type features include: Address Compare
(with HALT output), .\ddress Snapshot (for target addr. bus monitoring).
Trigger Input (for external events monitoring). Programmable Reset Output.

• Powerful Memory buffer editor. Selectable wordsizes (8,16,32).

• User friendly software. Command set includes: Load, Write, Display. Run.
Type, Edit. Fill Run-Command-File. Monitor, Port Reset, Help, Caleulator-

• Cascadable to 8 units. Includes target cable with Trigger, Halt & Reset clips.

• CMOS model «ith NiCad rechargeable 9V baltery backup - $495.
(Can be used in stand-alone mode: Built-in battery recharging circuitry.)

• File formats accepted: Binary, Intel Hex, Motorola S.

MC / VISA / AMEX Call today for datasheets!

B&C MICROSYSTEMS INC.

750 N. PASTORIA A\"E., SUNVW4LE, CA 94086 USA
TEL: (408)730-5511 FAX: (408)730-5521 BBS: (408) 730-23 17

Circle 287 on Reader Service Card

Circle 331 on Reader Service Card

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 453

Editorial Index by Company

Index of companies covered in articles, columns, or news stories in this issue
Each reference is to the first page of the article or section in which the company name appears

Company, Page # Inquiry*

A

E

1

J

P

Adac, 48

1299

Easy Automation Systems, 66

1278

JVC Information Products,

Panasonic Communications &

Adaptec, 1 72

1111

Energy Conversion Devices,

323, 338

1243

Systems, 73, 289, 338

1153

Adaptive Solutions, 342

1003

289, 338

1233

1256

Adobe Systems, 107

Entropy Engineering, 73

1158

Patriot Partners, 1 9

Advanced Hardware

Epson America, 119

L

PC Power & Cooling, 258

1107

Architectures, 331

Eugene Amazon, 73

1146

LaCie, 172

1118

PentaSoft, 127

Advanced Logic Research,

Everex Systems, 19, 186

1110

Laser Magnetic Storage

Peregrine Computers, 46

1293

162,268

1075

Exabyte, 323, 338

1234

International, 275, 338

1244

Performance Technological

Advanced Micro Devices,

LaserGo, 48

1301

Products, 52

1309

19, 194

1061

Lattice, 245

1225

Peripheral Vision, 338

1257

Apple Computer, 107, 146

1080

P

Lehigh University, 466

Phlllps-Du Pont Optical,

Applied Concepts, 52

1307

F-Chart Software, 70

1285

Logitech, 132, 395

1161

275, 338

1258

Archive, 323, 331,338

1226

FlexStar, 172

1114

Lotus Development, 165

Photonics, 58

1316

Asahi, 275

Fresh Technology Group, 58

1317

Pick Systems, 381

1020

Ashton-Tate, 165

Fuji, 275

M

Pinnacle Micro, 338

1259

AST Research, 186

1108

Fujitsu, 19

Pioneer Communications,

AT&T, 19

Fujitsu America, 172, 338

1115

MacroMind, 72

1287

275, 338

1260

Atari, 311

1235

Mannesmann Tally, 47

1294

PKWare, 338

1261

Autodesk, 73

1147

Future Domain, 172

1116

Mark Williams, 119

Popkin Software and Systems,

FWB, 172

1117

Maxoptlx, 275, 338

1245

62

1274

Maxtor, 338

1246

Poqet Computer, 239

B

MCC, 338

1247

PowerCore, 89

1223

Bellcore, 342

1004

G

Metaphor, 1 9

Priam Systems, 172

1123

Benchmark Associates, 89

1222

GateWaze, 66, 70

1279

Micro Map & CAD, 70

1284

Princeton Graphic Systems, 73 1157

Borland International, 156, 403

1281

Microelectronics and Computer

Psion, 338

1262

British Aerospace, 19

Gigatek, 338

1236

Technology, 283

GigaTrend, 323, 338

1237

MicroNet Technology, 172

1119

GRID Systems, 46

1290

Micropolis, 172

1120

Q

c

Grolier Electronic Publishing,

Microsoft, 97, 107, 127,

QIC Standards Committee, 331

California Scientific Software,

73

1149

338, 373, 395, 403

1248

Quarter-Inch Cartridge Drive

342

1005

Mitem, 62

1275

Standards, 338

1263

California Software Design,

1 1

Mitsubishi Electronics, 342

1009

Quarterdeck Office Systems,

338

1227

H

Mitsui Petrochemical Industries,

19,403

Cana Group, 48

1300

Harris Semiconductors, 342

1007

275, 338

1249

Canon U.S.A., 235, 338

1228

Hewlett-Packard, 119, 132,

Mitsumi Electronics, 323, 338

1250

Carlisle Memory Products, 338 1229

275, 323, 331 , 338

1162

Montana State University, 19

R

cc:Mail, 89

1221

1238

Motorola, 19, 165

Rainbow Technologies, 52

1306

Cipher Data Products, 338

1230

Hitachi America, 323, 338

1239

Mountain Computers, 338

1251

Ricoh, 338

1264

Club American Technologies,

Holder, Egan, 62

1273

Mouse Systems, 395

Rocky Mountain

186

1109

HSD Microcomputer U.S., 47

1296

Communications, 70

1283

CMC Research, 73

1151

N

Rocky Mountain Research

CMS Enhancements, 172

1112

Center, 19

Colorado Memory Systems,

1
1

N/Hance Systems, 172

1121

Rodime Systems, 172

1124

331 , 338

1231

IBM, 19, 97, 275, 338, 395

1240

Nakamichl, 338

1252

Compaq Computer,

IBM Magnetic Recording

National Design, 19

127, 140, 338

1232

Institute, 301

National Semiconductor, 342

1010

s

CompuAdd, 46

1292

intooritp bystems, Joi , Job

1241

Natural Graphics, 73

1154

Saber Software, 62

1271

CompuServe, 107

Informix Software, 221

1226

NEC Technologies, 47

1295

St. Martin's Press, 466

Computer Cowboys, 342

1006

Innovative Communications

Nestor, 342

1011

The Santa Cruz Operation, 19

Computer Virus Industry

Systems, 72

1286

Network Technologies, 54

1310

Seagate Technology, 338

1265

Association, 466

Integrated Information

NeXT, 165,338

1066

SEEQ Technology, 338

1266

Connect, 107

Technology, 19, 194

1064

1253

Seiko/Epson, 275

Core International, 172

1113

Intel, 19, 165, 194,338,342

1008

Nissei Sangyo America, 48

1302

Seiko Instruments U.S.A., 338

1267

Cyrix, 194

1063

1062

NoGate Consulting, 338

1254

Sitka, 107

1242

Notework, 58

1315

Software Composers, 66

1277

International Data, 395

Novell, 19, 97, 107

Software Security, 52

1305

D

International Standards

Numonics, 395

Sony, 275, 301 , 323, 338

1268

Dariana Technology, 132

1163

Organization, 97

Stac Electronics, 331 , 338

1269

Data Access, 89

1224

InterNet, 466

Stanford Research Institute, 395

Datacap, 72

1288

lOcomm, 47

1298

0

Stony Brook Software, 73

1150

Defense Advanced Research

Iomega, 47

1297

O.C.E.A.N.,338

1255

Storage Dimensions, 172

1125

Projects Agency, 342

Irma Research, 251

1077

Occam Research, 66

1276

Sun Microsystems, 19, 97, 107

Dell Computer, 19

Olivetti Research Center, 385

SuperMac Technology, 172

1126

Digital Equipment, 19,119, 385

Olympus/Rloch, 275

Synthetic Genetics, 70

1230

Disctec, 266

On-Llne Computer Systems, 275

System Enhancement

Distributed Processing

Open University, 364

Associates, 338

1270

Technology, 205

1105

Optima Technology, 172

1122

Systems Enhancement, 72

1289

Dolphin Software, 54 1311

454 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

T

Tandberg Data, 331

Tandy, 10, 46 1291

Teac America, 323, 338 1 421

Teraplex, 1 9

Texas Instruments,

19,262,342 1012
1078

Texas MacExpress, 19
3Com, 97

3M, 275, 338 1422
Togai InfraLogic, 342 1013
Toshiba, 19, 107, 266, 301,311
Toshiba America Information

Systems, 338 1423
Toshiba Semiconductor, 338 1424
Toyogo, 73 1152

u

UDS, 58 1313

UniPress, 227 1018

Universityof California, 342 1014
University of Tokyo, 342

Upsonic, 258 1106

V

Velox Computer, 19

Ventura Software, 132 1160

Vision Software, 70 1282

Visionary Electronics, 58 1314

Visix Software, 227 1019

w

Walt Disney Software, 73 1 1 56

Wang/Informatics, 251 1076

WangDAT, 323, 338 1425

Wangtek, 323, 338 1426

Weitek, 194 1065

Western Digital, 172 1127

Willow Peripherals, 73 1 1 48

WordPerfect, 132 1164

X

Xeltek, 52 1308
Xerox, 395

Xerox Palo Alto Research
Center, 385

z

Zenith Data Systems, 301 , 338 1427
Zero Surge, 73 1155
Zinc Software, 62 1272
Zirco, 52 1304

BYTE ADVERTISING SALES STAFF:

Steven M. Vito, Associate Publisher A^.P. of Marketing, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, tel. (603) 924-9281
Arthur Kossack, Eastern Advertising Director, Two Prudential Plaza, 180 North Stetson Ave., Chicago, IL 60601, tel. (312) 616-3341
Jennifer L. Bartel, Western Advertising Director, 14850 Quorum Drive, Suite 380, Dallas, TX 75240, tel. (214) 701-8496
Liz Coyman, Inside Advertising Sales Director, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, tel. (603) 924-2518

NW ENGLAND

ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, CT, ONTARIO
CANADA & EASTERN CANADA
Dan Savage (617) 860.6344
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McGraw-Hill Publications
29 Hanwell Avenue
Lexington. MA 02173
FAX: (617) 860-6999

EAST COAST
NY, NYC, NJ. DE, PA
Kim Norris (212)512-2645
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Patricia Payne (603) 924-2654
McGraw-Hill Publications
122 1 Avenue of the Americas—
2SA Floor

New York, NY 10020
FAX; (212) 512-2075

SOUTHEAST

NC, SC. GA, FL. AL. TN, VA,
MS, AR, LA, DC. MD, WV, KY
John Y. Schilin (404) 843^782
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McGraw-Hill Publications
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Atlanta, GA 30319
FAX; (404) 252-4056

MIDWEST

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WI, NE,!N. MI, OH
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McGraw-Hill Publications
Two Prudential Plaza
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FAX; (312) 616-3370

SOUTHWEST,
ROCKY MOUNTAIN
CO. OK. TX,

Alison Keenan (214) 701-8496
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McGraw-Hill Publications
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Suite 380
Dallas, TX 75240
FAX; (214) 991-6208

NCHflH PACIFIC: San Francisco, CA

NORTHERN CA. OR. ID. MT,

WY. NORTHERN NV

Roy J. Kops (415) 954-9728

McGraw-Hill Publications

425 Battery Street

San Francisco, CA 941 1 1

FAX: (415) 954-9786

NORTH PACIFIC: Campbell, CA
SILICON VALLEY, HI. WA, AK.
W. CANADA

Bill McAfee (408) 879-0381
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McGraw-Hill Publications
1999 South Bascom Ave.
Suite K 10

ampbell.CA 95008
FAX: (408) 879-9067

SOUTH PACIFIC: Los Angeles. CA
LOS ANGELES COUNTY. AZ.
NM. SOUTHERN NEVADA
Alan El Faye (213) 480-5243
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McGraw-Hill Publications
3333 Wilshire Boulevard #407
Los Angeles. CA 90010
FAX; (213) 480-5249

SOUTH PACIFIC: Costa Mesa, CA
ORANGE COUNTY,
SAN DIEGO COUNTY, UT
Ron Cordek (714) 557-6292
Jonathan Sawyer (603) 924-2665
McGraw-Hill Publications
3001 Red Hill Ave.
Building #1-Suite 222
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
FAX; (714)557-2219

BYTE BITS (2x3)
Mark Stone (603) 924-6830
BYTE Publications
One Phoenix Mill Lane
Peterborough, NH 03458

The Buyer's Mart (1x2)
Brian Higgins (603) 924-3754
BYTE Publications
One Phoenix .Mill Lane
Peterborough, NH 03458

Regional Advertisiog
James Bail (603) 924-2533
Barry Echavarria (603) 924-2574
Larry Levine (603) 924-2637
BYTE Publications
One Phoenix Mill Lane
Peterborough. NH 03458

BYTE Deck
Ed Ware (603) 924-2596
BYTE Publications
One Phoenix Mill Lane
Peterborough. NH 03458

Catalog Showcase

BYTE International Direct

Response Postcards

Ellen Perham (603) 924-2598

BYTE Publications

One Phoenix Mill Lane

Peterborough, NH 03458

Peterborough, NH Office

Inside Sales FAX; 603-924-2683
Advertising FAX; 603-924-7507

International Advertising Sales Staff:

Uwe Kretzschmar, European Advertising and Marketing Manager, BYTE Publkations,

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., Wimbledon Bridge House, One HartfiefcJ Road, Wimbkdtm, Londwi, SW19 3RU, England, Tel: 44 81 543 1234, Fax: 44 81 540 3833

GERMAN-Y, SWITZERLAND,
AUSTRIA

Uwe ICretzschmar (44-81-545-6268)
UNITED KINGDOM
Roz Wevman (44-81-545-6269)
McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.
Wimbledon Bridge House
One Hartf icld Road
Wimbledon. London SWI9 3RU
England

Tel: 44 81 543 1234
FAX; 44 81 540 3833
TELEX; 892191

BENELUX

Ellen Pardede
Baienburg 103
3437 AB Nieuwegein
The Netherlands
Tel: 31 34 02 49496
FAX; 31 34 02 37944

FRA.NC3E, ITALY

Zena Coupe, Amanda Blaskett

A-Z Internadonal Sales Ltd.

4 Ashmount Road. Homsey Lane

Highgate. London N19 3BH

England

Tel; 44 71 281 41 16
FAX; 44 71 281 8224

ISRAEL

Dan Ehrlich

Ehrlich Communication International
P.O. Box 11297
Tel Aviv 61 112
Israel

Tel; (972) 3 449823
FAX; (972) 3 5468168

JAPAN

Masaki Mori

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.
Overseas Corp.
Room 1528
Kasumigaseki Bldg.
3-2-5 Kasumigaseki.
Chiyoda-Ku
Tokyo 100. Japan
Tel: 81 3 581 9811
FAX: 81 3 581 4018

SWEDEN

Media Marketing AB
Karlbeigsvagen 89A
S-10031 Stockholm
Sweden

Tel: 46 8 301280

HONG KO.NG

Stephen Marcopoto
Seavex Ltd-
503 Wilson House
19-27 Wyndham St.
Central, Hong Kong
Tel: 852-868-2010
Telex: 60904 SEVEXHX
FAX: 852 810 1283

SINGAPORE

Jocelyn Domingo

400 Orchard Road, #10-01
Singapore 0923
Republic of Singapore
Tel: 65 734 9790
Telex: RS35539 SEAVEX
FAX: 65 732 5129

TAIWAN

Anita Chen
AcerTWP

977 Min Shen E. Road. 1-4 Fir.
Taipei 10581 . Taiwan ROC
Tel: 886 2 7630052
Fax: 886 2 7656874

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 455

READER
SERVICE

To get further information on tfie products advertised in BYTE, fili out
the reader service card by circling the numbers on the card that cor-
respond to the inquiry number iisted with the advertiser. This index is
provided as an additional service by the publisher, who assumes no
liability for errors or omissions.

Alphabetical Index to Advertisers

Inquiry No.

Page No.

Inquiry No.

Page No.

S ABACUS SOFTWARE.INC 197

9 ABACUS SOFTWARE.INC 197

10 ABTECH.INC 360

11 ABTECH.INC 360

12 ACMA 263

13 ADD ON AMERICA 443

14 AK SYSTEMS 451

15 ALL THE FAX 443

16 ALPHA PRODUCTS 437

17 ALR 2,3

18 ALR 2,3

19 ALTEC 204

20 AME PRODUCTS 447

21 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 450

21 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 450

21 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 450

22 AMERICAN MITAC 393

23 AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION - .99

24 AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION - . 99

25 AMERICAN RESEARCH CORP 300

26 AMERICAN RESEARCH CORP 300

27 AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESS 143

26 AMSGMBH 452

29 ANNABOOKS 222

382 ANNABOOKS 420

383 ANNABOOKS 420

30 ARCTANQENT.INC 447

31 ARCTANGENT.INC 447

32 ARDEN SOFTWARE 88

33 ARLINGTON ELECTRONICS 453

34 ASHTON-TATE 56,57

35 ASHTON-TATE 56,57

36 ASHTON-TATE 93

37 ASHTON-TATE 93

38 AVANTECH SOLUTIONS.INC 444

39 A.MS 450

40 B 8 B ELECTRONICS 450

41 BAYTECHNICALASSOCIATES 187

42 BAYTECHNICALASSOCIATES 187

43 BAYTECHNICALASSOCIATES 237

44 BAYTECHNICALASSOCIATES 237

45 BELL ATLANTIC 248,249

46 BEST POWER TECH..INC 450

47 BINARY DATA ACQUISITION 444

• BINARY TECHNOLOGY.INC 443

• BINARY TECHNOLOGY.INC 443

450 BIX 378,379

• BIXINTL 295

• BIX 414,434

49 BLAISE COMPUTING 6

50 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP . . . 407

51 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP .... 407

52 BOFFIN LTD 420

53 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL 11

54 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL 11

55 BOS NATIONAL.INC 444

56 BOW INDUSTRIES 448

57 BP MICROSYSTEMS 461

399 BUFFALO PRODUCTS 259

58 BUSINESSLAND DIRECT 421

• BUYERS MART 422-432

• BYTE BACK ISSUES 434

59 BYTE BITS 450

• BYTE BOOKCLUB 320,321

• BYTE CARD DECK 432

• BYTESUB.MESSAGE 392

• BYTE SUB.SERVICE 375

• BYTEWEEK/NEWSLETTER 410

61 B&C MICROSYSTEMS 451

62 B&C MICROSYSTEMS 451

63 B&C MICROSYSTEMS 453

64 CACHING TECHNOLOGY 285

65 CACHING TECHNOLOGY 285

66 CADRE TECHNOLOGIES 25

67 CANON (OPTICAL CARD) 71

68 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP 84

69 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP 85

• CCMI 436

■ CLEOCOMMUNICATIONS.INC 96

70 CLUB AMERICAN TECH.,INC 199

71 CMETELEMETRIX 451

72 CNS.INC 390

• COMPAQ 154,155

• OOMPUADD 88A-D

■ OOMPUADD 164A-D

73 COMPUCLASSICS 380

74 COMPUCOM 433

75 COMPUSERVE 282

388 COMPUTER ACCESSORIES 225

389 COMPUTER ACCESSORIES 225

76 COMPUTER FRIENDS, INC 400

77 COMPUTER PERIPHERALS 328

78 COMPUTER UPGRADE CORP 250

79 COMPUTER UPGRADE CORP 250

80 COMPUTERLANE 445

81 COMPUTERWISE.INC 434

82 COMTHOL CORP 230,231

• OOPIA INTERNATIONAL LTD 208

83 COVOX.INC 433

84 COVOX.INC 433

85 CRESCODATAA/S 451

86 CSS LABS 280,281

87 CSS LABS 280,281

90 CTA 322

91 CTX INTERNATIONAL 330

92 CTX INTERNATIONAL 330

93 CURTIS, INC 360

94 CYRIX 352

95 CYRIX 352

96 C&JMICRONICS 453

• DAK INDUSTRIES 42-45

■ DAMARKINT'L,INC 409

97 DATA STRATEGIES INT'L 440

98 DATA TRANSLATION 121

99 DATALUX 192B

100 DATALUX 192B

101 DATAQ INSTRUMENTS.INC 448

102 DATAWARE 421

103 DELL COMPUTER CORP Cll,1

104 DELL COMPUTER CORP 102,103

105 DELL COMPUTER CORP 104,105

• DELL COMPUTER CORP 104A-B

107 DELPHI 184

108 DESKTOP TECHNOLOGY CORP 90

395 DFI 389

109 DIGITAL RESEARCH 29

110 DIGITAL VISION 318

111 DIGI-DATA 448

112 DISKCOTECH 443

113 DISKCOTECH 443

114 DISKETTE CONNECTIONS 447

115 DISPENSA-MATIC LABEL DISP 421

116 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING TECH .253

117 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING TECH . 253

118 DIVERSIFIED COMPUTER SYS 450

119 DSM DIGITAL SERVICE 291

120 DSP DEVELOPMENT 391

121 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICS 198

122 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICS 198

123 ELCEECOMPUTEK 411

124 ELEXOR ASSOCIATES.INC 448

125 EMERSON UPS 319

126 EMERSON UPS 319

• EPSON 22,23

127 ERGO COMPUTING 137

• ERGO COMPUTING 136A-B

128 EVEREX SYSTEMS 256,257

129 EXIDE ELECTRONICS 420

130 EXIDE ELECTRONICS 420

131 FAIRCOMCORP 226

132 FALCO DATA PRODUCTS 183

135 FIRST SOURCE INTERNATIONAI 449

136 FIRST SOURCE INTERNATIONAI 449

137 FLAGSTAFF ENGINEERING 274

138 FLYTECHTECHNOLOGIES.INC 53

139 FORVALAMERICA,INC 372

140 FORVALAMERICA.INC 372

141 FOX SOFTWARE 7

396 GALAXY ELECTRONICS, INC 452

• GATEWAY 2000 32A-H

142 GCOM,INC 448

397 GEKENSHOJICO..LTD 451

143 GENERIC SOFTWARE 30,31

144 GENERIC SOFTWARE 30,31

145 GRAPHIC SOFTWARE SYSTEMS ... 120

146 GRAPHIC SOFTWARE SYSTEMS . . .120

147 GRAPHTEC 394

148 GREENVIEW 76

151 QTCO 421

152 GTEK.INC 408

153 GTEK.INC 408

154 a.W.COMPUTERS.INC 200

155 HAUPPAUGE COMPUTER WORKS. .234

156 HAVENTREE SOFTWARE LTD 224

157 HAVENTREE SOFTWARE LTD 224

158 HAYES 355

159 HELLO DIRECT 420

160 HERCULES 98

• HEWLETT-PACKARD PERIP ... 138,139

• HEWLETT-PACKARD PERIP 270,271

161 HIGH RES TECHNOLOGIES 452

162 HOOLEON CORPORATION 382

163 HOUSTON INSTRUMENT 67

164 HOUSTON INSTRUMENT 67

165 HOUSTON INSTRUMENT 67

166 HUMMINGBIRD COMM. LTD 246

167 HUMMINGBIRDCOMM.LTD 246

168 IBM PS/2 16,17

169 IIYAMA ELECTRIC CO..LTD 293

170 INDIGO SOFTWARE LTD 295

171 INFOCUS.INC 153

172 INFOCUS,INC 153

• INFOCUS,INC 1S2A-B

173 INSIGNIA SOLUTIONS 106

174 INTEGRAND 100

175 INTEL CORP 26,27

176 INTEL CORP 26,27

177 INTEL CORP 169

176 INTELCORP 169

179 INTELCORP 170,171

180 INTELCORP 170,171

181 INTEL CORP/DEV.TOOLS 421

182 10 TECH 443

183 IOMEGA 144,145

184 IOMEGA 144,145

185 I.S.C. POWER SYSTEMS 308,309

186 ITR 440

187 IVERSON COMPUTER CORP . . 362,363

188 I.C.EXPRESS 453

189 JADE COMPUTER 446

190 JAMECO 340,341

384 JAMECO 420

385 JAMECO 420

6 JDHMICRODEVIOES 461-484

7 JDRMICRODEVICES 461-464

192 JEMINI ELECTRONICS 450

193 KADAK PRODUCTS LTD 326

194 KEA SYSTEMS LTD 265

• KENSINGTONMICROWARELTO. . . .126

195 KILA SYSTEMS 447

196 KNAPCO 444

197 KNOWLEDGE GARDEN 413

198 LAGUNA CONVERSION SYS 440

199 LAHEY 184

200 LAWSON LABS.INC 453

201 LINK COMPUTER GRAPHICS 433

202 LOGICAL DEVICESINC 447

203 LOGICAL DEVICES,INC 447

204 LOGICAL DEVICESINC 447

205 LOGICAL DEVICESINC 447

206 LOGITECH.INC 50,51

207 LOGITECH,INC 50,51

208 LOGiTECH,iNC 297

209 LOGITECH,INC 297

• LOTUS 1-2-3 -UNIX 229

• LOTUS - MAGELLAN 77

210 LYBEN 421

211 MAQEEENTERPRISES.INC 416

212 MAQEEENTERPRISES.INC 416

213 MAP INFO 294

• MARKWILLIAMSCO 75

214 MARYMAC INDUSTRIES 452

Inquiry No.

Page No.

215 MATHSOFT 327

216 MATHSOFT 327

217 MAYNARD ELECTRONICS 357

218 MAYNARD ELECTRONICS 357

221 MEGATEL COMPUTER CORP 390

222 MERRITT COMPUTER PRODUCT . . .368

223 MICRO SOLUTIONS COMP.PROD . .318

226 MICROPROCESSORS UNLTD 444

• MICROSOFT 8,9

• MICROSOFT 21

• MICROSOFT 68,69

• MICROSOFT 129

• MICROSOFT 130,131

• MICROSOFT 232,233

• MICROSOFT 313

• MICROSOFT 315

■ MICROSOFT 317

227 MICROSTAR LABORATORIES 452

• MICROWAY 192C

• MICROWAY 347

• MICROWAY 415

228 MIGRAPH 420

229 MIS COMPUTER SYSTEMS 329

230 MIS COMPUTER SYSTEMS 329

231 MITSUBISHI ELECTRONICS 267

232 MITSUBISHI ELECTRONICS 267

233 MIX SOFTWARE 405

234 MKS 118

235 MOUSE SYSTEMS 252

386 MYLEX 314

387 MYLEX 314

236 NANAO USA CORP 238

237 NANAO USA CORP 238

238 NANTUCKET CORPORATION 302

239 NANTUCKET CORPORATION 303

250 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS 421

251 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS GUI

252 NATIONAL TELEVAR 110

253 NCR EUROPE 248,249

254 NECHOMEELECT.(MONITORS) . 12,13

255 NEC SYSTEMS 64,65

258 NEVADA COMPUTER CORP 442

257 NOHAUCORP 397

258 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 209

259 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS. 210,211

260 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS. 212,213

261 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS . 214,215

262 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS. 216,217

263 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS . 218,219

264 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 220

265 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS . 242,243

• NRI/MCGRAW-HILL 384A-D

266 NU-MEGA TECHNOLOGIES 78

267 OAKLAND GROUP.INC 310

• ORACLE Ill

269 OVERLAND DATA 435

270 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 151

271 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 151

272 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 201

273 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 201

274 PANASONIC (LASER PRINTER) . .36-38

276 PANASONIC (MONITORS) 15

277 PARA SYSTEMS 81

278 PATTON & PATTON 80

■ PCCONNECTION 112-114

• PCCONNECTION 115,116

• PCCONNECTION 117

279 PENTAX TECHNOLOGIES 181

280 PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONS.INC 325

281 PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONS.INC 325

282 PERCON 433

283 PERSONAL TEXINC 240

284 PINNACLE MICRO 109

285 PLUS DEVELOPMENT 185

286 POPKIN SOFTWARE 361

398 PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS 123

• PRINCETON PUB. LABS 288A-B

287 PROCOMP.USA 453

288 PROGRAMMER'SCONNECTION ... 420

289 PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE ... 59-61

390 PROGRAMMER'S SHOP 158-181

391 PROGRAMMER'S SHOP 1S8-161

290 PROMISE TECHNOLOGY.INC 182

291 PROTECH MARKETING 135

292 PROTECH MARKETING 135

293 PSEUDOCORP 451

240 QUATECH.INC 418

241 QUATECH.INC 416

242 QUATECH.INC 418

243 QUATECH.INC 418

244 QUATECH.INC 418

245 QUATECH.INC 418

246 QUATECH.INC 418

247 QUATECH.INC 418

248 QUATECH.INC 418

294 QUALSTARCORP 440

295 QUARTERDECK 298,299

296 RSRELECTRONICS 452

297 RADIO SHACK CIV

298 RAIMA CORP 49

392 RAIMA CORP 371

300 RAINBOW 63

301 RAINBOW 63

302 RAINDROP 222

303 ROSE ELECTRONICS 101

304 ROYKORE 92

305 SAFEWARE.INC 444

306 SANKYOSEIKI(U.K.)LTD 337

307 SANTA CRUZ OPERATION 55

308 SAS INSTITUTE, INC 359

309 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

310 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

311 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

312 SCOTTSDALE SYSTEMS 436

313 SEQUITERSOFTWAHE,INC 244

314 SHECOM COMPUTERS, INC 241

315 SILICON SHACK LTD 452

316 SN'W COMPUTERS 4 ELECT 200

317 SOFTWAREPUBLISHINGCORP254,255

318 SONY 369

319 SPECTRUM 307

Inquiry No.

Page No.

320 STANDARD COMPUTER 124,125

321 STATSOFT 87

322 STONY BROOK SOFTWARE 398

323 STONY BROOK SOFTWARE 398

324 STORAGE DIMENSIONS 207

325 STORAGE DIMENSIONS 207

326 SUMMAGRAPHICS 223

327 SUMMAGRAPHICS 223

328 SUMMAGRAPHICS 223

329 SUN MICRO 94,95

331 SUNRISE ELECTRONICS, INC 453

332 SUPERSOFT 349

333 SYSTAT 261

334 TALKING TECHNOLOGY.INC 444

335 TANGENT COMPUTER 179

336 TECH CITY 399

337 TECH CITY 399

338 TECHNOLOGY POWER ENTER .... 452

393 TEKTRONIX 202,203

394 TEKTRONIX 202,203

339 TELEPHONE PRODUCT CENTER ... 441

340 TEXAS MICROSYSTEMS 1920,193

■ TEXAS MICROSYSTEMS .... 192D A-B

341 THE CARD SHOP 421

342 THE PERISCOPE CO 351

343 THE PERISCOPE CO 351

344 THE SOFTWARE LINK 332

345 THE SOFTWARE LINK 332

346 THE SOFTWARE LINK 333

347 THE SOFTWARE LINK 333

348 TOSHIBA 82,83

349 TOSHIBA 82,83

350 TOUCHBASE SYSTEMS.INC 74

351 TOUCHSTONE - CHECKIT 79

352 TOUCHSTONE - CHECKIT 79

353 TREND SYSTEMSINC 435

354 TRI-STAR COMPUTER 18

355 TRUEVISION. INC 383

356 TULIN CORPORATION 368

357 TULIN CORPORATION 368

358 UHC 417

359 UNICORE SOFTWARE 108

360 UNITEX 438,439

361 UNITEX 438,439

362 UNIVERSAL CROSS-ASSEMBLERS . 448

363 UPSONIC 189

364 UPSONIC 189

• US ROBOTICS 316

365 VENTURCOM 122

366 VENTURCOM 122

• VERMONT CREATIVE SOFTWARE ... 35

367 VICTORY ENTERPRISES 411

368 VIDEX 402

369 VIDEX 402

370 VIRGIN MASTERTRONIC 420

371 VIZIFLEXSEELS.INC 452

372 VOGON ENTERPRISES LTD 336

• WATCOM PRODUCTS 247

373 WIESEMANN&THEISGMBH 296

374 WINTEK CORP 448

375 XELTEK 443

376 ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS 91

377 ZENY COMPUTER SYS , INC 208

378 ZIRCOCORP 108

379 ZIRCOCORP 108

• ZORTECH 41

380 Z-WORLD ENGINEERING 440

381 Z-WORLD ENGINEERING 440

INTERNATIONAL SECTION 72181-96

No North American lr}quiries please.

401 3EST USA IS-74

402 ACER IS-59

403 AGO IS-69

404 ALADDIN IS-49

405 AMDS LTD IS-44

406 AMERICAN BUYING & EXPORTING IS-84
483 ARGOSY l$-60

407 ATICO IS-40,41

• BIX IS-77

408 BLUE CHIP TECHNOLOGY IS-72

• BYTE SUB.SERVICE IS-70

• BYTEWEEK/NEWSLETTER IS-79

412 CLARION SOFTWARE IS-17

413 CLARION SOFTWARE IS-17

414 COBALT BLUE 18-56

415 COMPEX.INC IS-38

416 COMPEX,INC IS-38

417 COMPEX.INC 18-39

418 COMPEX.INC 18-39

419 COMPUSAVE INT'L IS-73

420 COMPUTER CONNECTIONS IS-53

421 COMPUTER QUICK 18-46

422 COSTGOLD RESEARCH LTD 18-52

423 CYBEX 18-56

424 C.TS. LTD 18-72

425 DIETRICH POS-EQUIPMENT 18-74

428 EASY NETWORK 18-55

429 EASY NETWORK 18-55

426 ELEX INTERNATIONAL IS-81

• ELONEX IS-47

427 ESIX SYSTEMS IS-13

430 FAST ELECTRONIC IS-63

431 FORTRON l$-9

432 FORTRON IS-9

482 GALAXY MICROCRAFT SYS. CO . . . 18-70

433 GAMMA PRODUCTIONS 18-28

434 GAMMA PRODUCTIONS 18-28

435 GREY MATTER 18-71

436 GTCO 18-20

437 GTCO 18-20

438 IXILTD 18-30

439 IGEL IS-85

440 IMT FRANCE 18-64

441 INESGMBH 18-62

442 INEX INTERNATIONAL 18-62

443 INTERQUADLTD IS-5

444 INTERQUADLTD 18-7

481 INWIN DEVELOPMENT.INC IS-80

456 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

READER SERVICE

' Correspond directly with company.

Inquiry No.

Page No.

445 IQ ENGINEERING IS-15

446 IQ ENGINEERING IS-15

447 JC INFO SYSTEMS IS-3S

448 LASERMASTER CORP IS-75

449 LASERMASTER CORP IS-75

451 LOGIDATATECH IS-51

452 MASHOV (USE) LTD IS-67

453 MAXIT DEVELOPMENT/OSBORNE IS-78

454 MAXIT DEVELOPMENT/OSBORNE IS-78

455 MAYFAIR MICROS IS-14

456 MEGADATA IS-36

457 MEGADATA IS-36

458 MICROGRAFX IS-43

459 MINOLTA GMBH IS-23

461 PHILIPS IS-27

462 PROGRAMMERS ODYSSEY IS-12

463 PROLOG DEVELOPMENT CTR , IS-80
4S4 SAGE/POLYTRON IS-24

465 SMART SOFTWARE 15-48

• SOFTLINE CORP IS-45

466 SOFTWARE CONSTRUCTION CO. , IS-57

■ SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT SYS- IS-33

467 SOFTWARE DMI IS-16

468 SUN'S ELECTRONICS CO. LTD ... IS-54

469 SURAH, INC IS-74

470 TATUNG IS-37

471 TEAC IS-10

480 TP ENTERPRISE LTD IS-68

473 TRIANGLE DIGITAL SERVICES .... IS-72

474 TRIGEM IS-2

475 TWINHEAD IS-18,19

476 UNIVERSAL DATASYSTEMS IS-31

477 UNIVERSAL DATASYSTEMS IS-31

478 USA SOFTWARE IS-29

479 VIKING SOFTWARE SERVICE IS-52

INT'L DIRECT RESPONSE POSTCARDS

• BYTEWEEK IS

• C USERS JOURNAL IS

• COMPUTER SOLUTIONS IS

• COMPUTER SOLUTIONS.N.W IS

• DIGIBOARD IS

• GATEWAY 2000 IS

■ KEITHLEY/METRABYTE IS

• MIGRAPH.INC ' IS

• PROGRAMMER'S JOURNAL JS

■ REASONABLE SOLUTIONS IS

• TECH SPECIALIST IS

inquiry No.

Page No.

REGIONAL SECTIONS

Midwest 72MW1-24

588 ADI CORPORATION MW-21

569 BSI MW-5

590 SSI MW-5

591 CAF COMPUTER CORP MW-23

592 C.E.T.D.C MW-22

593 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS MW-19

594 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS MW-1

595 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS MW-1

596 IME COMPUTERS MW-2

597 IME COMPUTERS MW-2

598 INTERFACE GROUP MW-3

599 INTERFACE GROUP MW-3

600 INTRA ELECTRONICS MW-24

601 IRISSOFTWARE MW-11

602 IRISSOFTWARE MW-11

603 MICRO DESIGNS MW-4

604 MICRO DESIGNS MW-4

605 MICROSPEED COMPTERS MW-9

606 MICROSPEED COMPTERS MW-9

607 MICROCOM COMPUTERS MW-13

608 MYODA.INC MW-15

609 MYODA.INC MW-15

610 REASON TECHNOLOGY MW-6,7

611 SAMPOTECHNOUDGYCORP . . . MW-18

612 SOFT & MORE MW-1 6

Northeast 72NE1-32

551 ADI CORPORATION NE-29

552 BITWISE DESIGNS.INC NE-12

553 BITWISE DESIGNS.INC NE-12

554 BRIGHTBILL-ROBERTS NE-5

555 BSI NE-16

556 SSI NE-16

557 CAF COMPUTER CORP NE-31

558 C.E.T.D.C NE-30

559 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS NE-27

560 COMPULYNK NE-3

561 COMPULYNK NE-3

• COMP. GRAPHICS SHOW '91 NE-24

562 COMP. SALES PROFESSIONAI NE-11

563 COMP. SALES PROFESSIONAI NE-11

564 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS NE-17

565 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS NE-17

566 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS NE-20

inquiry No.

Page No.

567 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS . . NE-20

568 IME COMPUTERS NE-2

569 IME COMPUTERS NE-2

570 INTERFACE GROUP NE-7

571 INTERFACE GROUP NE-7

572 INTRA ELECTRONICS NE-32

573 MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT NE-1

■ MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT . NE-72A-B

574 MICRO DESIGNS NE-4

575 MICRO DESIGNS NE-4

576 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS NE-13

577 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS NE-13

578 MICROCOM COMPUTERS NE-21

579 MYODA.INC NE-23

580 MYODA.INC NE-23

581 REASON TECHNOLOGIES NE-8,9

582 SAMPO TECHNOLOGY CORP .... NE-26
• SCAN SYMPOSIUM NE-22

583 SOFTS MORE NE-15

Pacific Coast

72 PCI -36

645 ADI CORPORATION PC-33

646 AYDIN CONTROLS PC-26

647 AYDIN CONTROLS PC-26

648 BOFFIN LTD PC-7

649 BOFFIN LTD PC-7

650 BRIGHTBILL-ROBERTS PC-6

651 BSI PC-28

652 BSI PC-28

653 CAF COMPUTER CORP PC-35

654 C.E.T.D.C PC-34

655 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS PC-31

656 CONVEX PC-9

657 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS PC-1

658 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS PC-1

659 DEXPO WEST 90 PC-5

660 EASY NETWORK PC.19

661 EASY NETWORK PC-19

662 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS ... .PC-21

663 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS ... .PC-21

664 IME COMPUTERS PC-14

665 IME COMPUTERS PC-14

666 INTERFACE GROUP PC-3

667 INTERFACE GROUP PC-3

668 INTRA ELECTRONICS PC-36

669 IRISSOFTWARE PC-13

670 IRISSOFTWARE PC-13

671 METAWARE PC-25

inquiry No.

Page No.

672 MICA COMPUTER PC-23

673 MICA COMPUTER PC-23

674 MICRO DESIGNS PC-4

675 MICRO DESIGNS PC-4

676 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS PC-16

677 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS PC-16

678 MICROCOM COMPUTERS PC-27

■ MICROCOMPUTER MKTG.CNCL . PC-24

679 MYODA.INC PC-17

680 MYODA.INC PC-17

681 OPTICAL PUBLISHING.INC PC-14

682 OPTICAL PUBLISHING.INC PC-14

684 PROSPERO SOFTWARE, INC . . PC-2

685 PROSPERO SOFTWARE. INC PC-2

686 SAMPO TECHNOLOGY CORP PC-30

687 THE PRINTER WORKS PC-10,11

688 THE PRINTER WORKS PC-10,11

689 UNITED INNOVATIONS PC-20

690 ZERICON PC-15

South 72 SOI -24

615 ADI CORPORATION SO-21

616 BOFFIN LTD SO-13

617 BOFFIN LTD SO-13

618 BSI SO-5

619 BSI SO-5

620 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS SO-9

621 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS SO-9

• BYTE CARD DECK SO-9

622 CAF COMPUTER CORP SO-23

623 C.E.T.D.C SO-22

624 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS SO-19

625 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS SO-7

626 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS SO-7

627 IME COMPUTERS SO-2

628 IME COMPUTERS SO-2

629 INTERFACE GROUP SO-3

630 INTERFACE GROUP SO-3

631 INTRA ELECTRONICS SO-24

632 MICRO DESIGNS SO-4

633 MICRO DESIGNS SO-4

634 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS SO-16

635 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS SO-16

636 MICROCOM COMPUTERS SO-11

637 MYODA.INC SO-t

638 MYODA.INC SO-1

639 SAMPO TECHNOLOGY CORP . 80-18

640 SOFTS MORE SO-15

BYTE ADVERTISING SALES STAFF:

Steven M. Vito, Associate PublisherA'.P. of Marketing, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterljorough, NH 03458, tel. (603) 924-9281

Arthur Kossack, Eastern Advertising Director, Two Prudential Plaza, 180 North Stetson Ave., Chicago, XL 60601, tel. (312) 616-3341

Jennifer L. Bartel, Western Advertising Director, 14850 Quorum Drive, Suite 380, Dallas, TX 75240, tel. (214) 701-8496

Liz Coyman, Inside Advertising Sales Director, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458, tel. (603) 924-2518

NEWENGL.\ND

MIDWEST

NORTH PACIFIC: Campbell, C:a

BYTE BITS (2x3)

BYTE Deck

ME, NH, VT, MA. RI, CT. ONTARIO

IL, MO. KS.IA, ND.SD. MN.

SILICON VALLEY, HI, WA, AK,

Mark Stone (603) 924-6830

Ed Ware (603) 924-2596

CANADA & EASTERN CANADA

WI. NE, IN, MI. OH

W. CANADA

BYTE Publications

BYTE Publications

Dan Savage (617) 860-«344

Kurt Kelley (312) 616-3328

Bill McAfee (408) 879-0381

One Phoenix Mill Lane

One Phoenix Mill Lane

Scott Gagnon (603) 924-2651

MaryAnn Goulding (603) 924-2664

Leslie Hupp (408) 8794)381

Peterborough. NH 03458

Peterborough, NH 03458

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publications

29 Hartwell Avenue

Two Prudential Plaza

1999 South Bascom Ave.

The Buyer's Mart (1x2)

Catalog Showcase

Lexington. MA 02 173

1 80 North Stetson Ave.

Suite iBlO

Brian Higgins (603) 924-3754

BYTE International Direct

FAX: (617)860-6999

Chicago. IL 60601

Campbell. CA 95008

BYTE Publications

Response Postcards

FAX: (312) 616-3370

FAX: (408) 879-9067

One Phoenix Mill Lane

Ellen Perham (603) 924-2598

EAST COAST

Peterborough. NH 03458

BYTE Publications

NY. NYC, NJ, DE. PA

SOUTHWEST,

SOUTH PACIFIC: Los Angeles. CA

One Phoenix Mill Lane

Kim Norris (212) 512-2645

ROCKY MOUNTAIN

LOS A-NGELES COU.NTY. AZ.

Regional Advertising

Peterborough. NH 03458

Ariane Casey (212) 512-2368

CO. OK. TX.

NM. SOUTHERN NEVADA

James Bail (603) 924-2533

Patricia Payne (603) 924-2654

Alison Keenan (214) 701-8496

Alan El Fave (213) 480-5243

Barry Echavarria (603) 924-2574

Peterborough, NH Office

McGraw-Hill Publications

Patricia Payne (603) 924-2654

Jonathan Sawyer (603) 924-2665

Larry Levine (603) 924-2637

Inside Sales FAX: 603-924-2683

1221 Avenue of the Americas—

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publications

BTTE Publications

Advertising FAX: 603-924-7507

28th Floor

14850 Quorum Drive

3333 Wilshire Boulevard #407

One Phoenix Mill Lane

New York, NY 10020

Suite 380

Los Angeles, CA 90010

Peterborough. NH 03458

FAX: (212)512-2075

Dallas. TX 75240

FAX: (213) 480-5249

FAX: (214)991-6208

SOUTHEAST

SOUTH PACIFIC: Cosia Mesa, CA

NC, SC. GA. PL. AL, TN, VA,

NORTH PACIFIC: San Francisco, CA ORANGE COUNTY,

MS, AR. LA, DC, MD. WV, KY

NORTHERN CA. OR. ID. MT,

SAN DIEGO COUNTY. UT

John Y. Schilin (404) 843-4782

WY. NORTHERN NV

Ron Cordek (714) 557-6292

Patricia Payne (603) 924-2654

RoyJ.Kops (415) 954-9728

Jonathan Sawyer (603) 924-2665

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publications

McGraw-Hill Publicauons

4170 Ashford-Dunwoody Road

425 Battery Street

3001 Red Hill Ave.

Suite 520

San Francisco. CA 941 11

Building #1 -Suite 222

Atlanta, GA 30319

FAX: (415)954-9786

Costa Mesa. CA 92626

FAX: (404) 252^56

FAX: (714) 557-2219

International Advertising Sales Staff:

Uwe Kretzschmar, European Advertising and Marketing Manager, BYTE Publicaticms,

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co., Wimbledon Bridge House, One Hartfidd Road, Wimbtedon, Londim, SW19 3RU, England, Tel: 44 81 543 1234, Fax: 44 81 540 3833

GERMANY, SWITZERLANT),

FRANCE, ITALY

JAPAN

Ha\G KONG

TAIWAN

AUSTRIA

Zena Coupe. Amanda Blaskelt

Masaki Mori

Stephen Marcopoto

Anita Chen

Uwe Kretzschmar (44-8 1 -545-6268)

A-Z Internationa! Sales Ltd.

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.

Seavex Ltd.

AcerTWP

UNITED KINGDOVj

4 Ashmount Road. Homsev Lane

Overseas Corp.

503 Wilson House

977 Min Shen E. Road. 1-4 Fir.

Ror Weyman (44-81-545-6269)

Highgate, London N19 3BH

Room 1528

19-27 Wyndham St.

Taipei 10581. Taiwan ROC

McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.

England

Kasumigaseki Bldg.

Central. Hong Kong

Tel: 886 2 763 0052

Wimbledon Bridge House

Tel: 44 71 281 4116

3-2-5 Kasumigaseki,

Tel: 852-868-2010

Fax: 886 2 765 6874

One Harifield Road

FAX: 44 71 281 8224

Chiyoda-Ku

Telex: 60904 SEVEX HX

Wimbledon. London SW193RU

Tokyo 100, Japan

FAX: 852 810 1283

England

ISRAEL

Tel: 81 3 581 9811

Tel: 44 81 543 1234

Dan Ehrlich

FAX: 81 3 581 4018

SINGAPORE

FAX: 44 81 540 3833

Ehrlich Communication International

Jocelyn Domingo

TELEX: 892191

P.O. Box 11297

SWEDEN

Seavex Ltd.

Tel Aviv 61 112

Media Marketing AB

400Orchard Road. #10-01

BENELUX

Israel

Karlberesvagen 89A

Singapore 0923

Ellen Pardcde

Tel: (972) 3 449823

S-lOOSfStockholm

Republic of Singapore

Batenbure 103

FAX: (972)3 5468168

Sweden

Tel: 65 734 9790

3437 AB Nieuwegein

Tel: 46 8 301280

Telex: RS35539 SEAVEX

The Netherlands

FAX: 65 732 5129

Tel: 31 34 02 49496

FAX: 31 34 02 37944

NOVEMBER 1990 'BYTE 457

READER
SERVICE

To get further information on tfie products advertised in BYTE, fill out
the reader service card by circling the numbers on the card that cor-
respond to the inquiry number listed with the advertiser. This index is
provided as an additional service by the publisher, who assumes no
liability for errors or omissions.

* Correspond directly with company.

Index to Advertisers by Product Category

Inquiry No.

Page No.

HARDWARE

126 ADD INS

10 ABTECH.INC 360

11 ABTECH.INC 360

21 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 450

28 AMSGMBH 452

483 ARGOSY IS-60

47 BINARY DATA ACQUISITION .. . 444

408 BLUE CHIP TECHNOLOGY ... IS-72

64 CACHING TECHNOLOGY 285

65 CACHING TECHNOLOGY 285

68 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP ...84

69 CAPITAL EQUIPMENT CORP ...85

• CLEOCOMMUNICATIONS,INC...96

417 COMPEX.INC IS-39

418 COMPEX.INC IS-39

82 COMTROL CORP 230,231

85 CRESCODATAA/S 451

94 CYRIX 352

95 CYRIX 352

424 C.T.S. LTD IS-72

98 DATA TRANSLATION 121

116 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING TECH 253

117 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING TECH 253

119 DSM DIGITAL SERVICE 291

482 GALAXY MICROCRAFTSYS.COIS-70

145 GRAPHIC SOFTWARE SYSTEMS 120

146 GRAPHIC SOFTWARE SYSTEMS 120

152 GTEK.INC 408

153 GTEK.INC 408

160 HERCULES 98

161 HIGH RES TECHNOLOGIES .. . 452

175 INTEL CORP 26,27

176 INTEL CORP 26,27

177 INTEL CORP 169

178 INTEL CORP 169

182 10 TECH 443

447 JC INFO SYSTEMS IS-35

200 LAWSON LABS.INC 453

453 MAXITDEVELOPMENT/OSBORNEIS-78

454 MAXITDEVELOPMENT/OSBORNEIS-78

226 MICROPROCESSORS UNLTD . . 444

227 MICROSTAR LABORATORIES . . 452

• MICROWAY 347

• MICROWAY 415

386 MYLEX 314

387 MYLEX 314

280 PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONS.INC. 325

281 PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONS.INC . 325

287 PROCOMP.USA 453

290 PROMISE TECHNOLOQY.INC . . 182

240 QUATECH.INC 418

241 QUATECH.INC 418

242 QUATECH.INC 418

243 QUATECH.INC 418

244 QUATECH.INC 418

245 QUATECH.INC 418

246 QUATECH.INC 418

247 QUATECH.INC 418

248 QUATECH.INC 418

468 SUN'S ELECTRONICS CO. LTD IS-54

470 TATUNG IS-37

338 TECHNOLOGY POWER ENTER 452

342 THE PERISCOPE CO 351

343 THE PERISCOPE CO 351

480 TP ENTERPRISE LTD IS-68

353 TREND SYSTEMS.INC 435

473 TRIANGLE DIGrTAL SERVICES IS-72

355 TRUEVISION, INC 383

359 UNICORE SOFTWARE 108

127 DRIVES

COMPUTER UPGRADE CORP . 250
COMPUTER UPGRADE CORP . 250

OURTIS.INC 360

IME COMPUTERS NE-2

IME COMPUTERS NE-2

IME COMPUTERS MW-2

IME COMPUTERS MW-2

IME COMPUTERS SO-2

IME COMPUTERS SO-2

IME COMPUTERS PC-14

IME COMPUTERS PC-14

IOMEGA 144,145

IOMEGA 144,145

MICRO SOLUTIONS COMP.PROD. 318
MITSUBISHI ELECTRONICS ... 267
MITSUBISHI ELECTRONICS ... 267

OVERLAND DATA 435

TRIGEM IS-2

TULIN CORPORATION 368

TULIN CORPORATION 368

m FACSIMILE

15 ALL THE FAX 443

620 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS. . SO-9

621 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS. . SO-9
444 INTERQUADLTD IS-7

129 GRAPHICS TABLETS

326 SUMMAGRAPHICS 223

327 SUMMAGRAPHICS 223

328 SUMMAGRAPHICS 223

78
79
93
568
569
596
597
627
628
664
665
183
184
223
231
232
269
474
356
357

Inquiry No.

Page No.

57
96
152
153
201
204
205
257
331
375

71
101
124
200
235
251

99
100
110
147
436
437

206
207
208
209

261
282
377

14
67
420
422
97
111
137
481
198
217
218
223
280
281
284
285
294
306
318
324
325
471
372

16
21
28
29
83
84
425
439
171
172

174
445
446
195
222
226
272
273

334
368
369
371
373
380
381

41
42
43
44
74
77
139
140
158
179
180

HARDWARE PROGRAMMERS

BINARY TECHNOLOGY.INC ... 443

BP MICROSYSTEMS 451

C&J MICRONICS 453

GTEK.INC 408

GTEK.INC 408

LINK COMPUTER GRAPHICS . . 433

LOGICAL DEVICES.INC 447

LOGICAL DEVICES.INC 447

NOHAUCORP 397

SUNRISE ELECTRONICS.INC. . 453

XELTEK 443

INSTRUMENTATION

CMETELEMETRIX 451

DATAQ INSTRUMENTS.INC .... 446
ELEXORASSOCIATES.INC . . . . 448

LAWSON LABS.INC 453

MOUSE SYSTEMS 252

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS Clll

KEYBOARDS/MICE

DATALUX 192B

DATALUX 192B

DIGITAL VISION 318

GRAPHTEC 394

GTCO lS-20

GTCO IS-20

KENSINGTON MICROWARE LTD . 126

LOGITECH.INC 50,51

LOGITECH.INC 50,51

LOGITECH.INC 297

LOGITECH.INC 297

MICROSOFT 68,69

NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 214,215

PERCON 433

ZENY COMPUTER SYS .INC ... 208

MASS STORAGE

AK SYSTEMS 451

CANON (OPTICAL CARD) 71

COMPUTERCONNECTIONS. . IS-53
COSTGOLD RESEARCH LTD . IS-52

DATA STRATEGIES INT'L 440

DIGI-DATA 448

FLAGSTAFF ENGINEERING ... 274
INWIN DEVELOPMENT.INC . . IS-60
LAGUNA CONVERSION SYS ... 440

MAYNARD ELECTRONICS 357

MAYNARD ELECTRONICS 357

MICRO SOLUTIONS COMP.PROD . 318
PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONS.INC . 325
PERCEPTIVE SOLUTIONS.INC . 325

PINNACLE MICRO 109

PLUS DEVELOPMENT 185

QUALSTARCORP 440

SANKYOSEIKI(U.K.)LTD 337

SONY 369

STORAGE DIMENSIONS 207

STORAGE DIMENSIONS 207

TEAC IS-10

VOGON ENTERPRISES LTD . . . 336

MISCELLANEOUS

ALPHA PRODUCTS 437

AMERICAN ADVANTECH 450

AMSGMBH 452

ANNABOOKS 222

COVOX.INC 433

COVOX.INC 433

DIETRICH POS-EQUIPMENT . IS-74

IGEL IS-65

INFOCUS.INC 153

INFOCUS.INC 153

INFOCUS.INC 152A-B

INTEGRAND 100

10 ENGINEERING IS-15

10 ENGINEERING IS-15

KILA SYSTEMS 447

MERRITT COMPUTER PR0DUCT368
MICROPROCESSORS UNLTD. . 444
PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS .... 201
PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS ... 201
PRINCETON PUB.LABS .... 288A-B
TALKING TECHNOLOGY.INC . . 444

VIDEX 402

VIDEX 402

VIZIFLEXSEELS.INC 452

WIESEMANN &THEISGMBH .. 296

Z-WORLD ENGINEERING 440

Z-WORLD ENGINEERING 440

MODEMS/MULTIPLEXORS

BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES . 1 87
BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES . 1 87
BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES . 237
BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 237

COMPUCOM 433

COMPUTER PERIPHERALS ... 328

FORVALAMERICA.INC 372

FORVALAMERICA.INC 372

HAYES 355

INTEL CORP 170,171

INTEL CORP 170,171

Inquiry No.

Page No.

451 LOGIDATATECH IS-S1

456 MEGADATA IS-36

457 MEGADATA IS-36

398 PRACTICAL PERIPHERALS 123

350 TOUCHBASE SYSTEMS.INC 74

476 UNIVERSAL DATA SYSTEMS . IS-31

477 UNIVERSAL DATA SYSTEMS . IS-31

• US ROBOTICS 316

• VERMONT CREATIVE SOFTWARE 35

136 MONITORS

551 ADI CORPORATION NE-29

588 ADI CORPORATION MW-21

615 ADI CORPORATION SO-21

645 ADI CORPORATION PC-33

21 AMERICAN ADVANTECH 450

559 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS . . NE-27
593 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS . . MW-19
624 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS . - SO-19
655 CHUN YUN ELECTRONICS . . PC-31

91 CTX INTERNATIONAL 330

92 CTX INTERNATIONAL 330

169 IIYAMA ELECTRIC CO.,LTD . . . . 293
443 INTERQUADLTD IS-5

236 NANAO USA CORP 238

237 NANAO USA CORP 238

254 NEC HOME ELECT (MONITORS) . 12,13

276 PANASONIC (MONITORS) 15

461 PHILIPS IS-27

137 NETWORK HARDWARE

3EST USA IS-74

BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 187
BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 187
BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 237
BAY TECHNICAL ASSOCIATES. 237

BUFFALO PRODUCTS 259

COMTROL CORP 230,231

CSS LABS 280,281

CSS LABS 280,281

CYBEX IS-56

DELL COMPUTER CORP 1 ,CII

EASY NETWORK IS-55

EASY NETWORK IS-55

EASY NETWORK PC-19

EASY NETWORK PC-19

ELONEX IS-47

FAIRCOMCORP 226

FLYTECHTECHNOLOGIES.INC . .53

INESGMBH IS-62

THE SOFTWARE LINK 332

THE SOFTWARE LINK 332

THE SOFTWARE LINK 333

THE SOFTWARE LINK 333

138 PRINTERS/PLOTTERS

• EPSON 22,23

• HEWLETT-PACKARD PERIP 138,139

163 HOUSTON INSTRUMENT 67

164 HOUSTON INSTRUMENT 67

165 HOUSTON INSTRUMENT 67

448 LASERMASTER CORP IS-75

449 LASERMASTER CORP IS-75

459 MINOLTAGMBH IS-23

274 PANASONIC (LASER PRINTER)36,38

279 PENTAX TECHNOLOGIES 181

469 SURAH.INC IS-74

393 TEKTRONIX 202,203

394 TEKTRONIX 202,203

687 THE PRINTER WORKS . . PC-10,11

688 THEPRINTERWORKS ...PC-10,11

689 UNITED INNOVATIONS PC-20

690 ZERICON PC-15

139 PRINTER RIBBONS/SUPPLIES

270 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 151

271 PACIFIC DATA PRODUCTS 151

140 SCANNERS/IMAGE PROCESSORS

395 DFI 389

• HEWLETT-PACKARD PERIP 270,271

>41 SOFTWARE SECURITY

404 ALADDIN IS-49

430 FAST ELECTRONIC IS-63

291 PROTECH MARKETING 135

292 PROTECH MARKETING 135

300 RAINBOW 63

301 RAINBOW 63

)42 SYSTEMS

402 ACER IS-59

12 ACMA 263

403 AGO IS-69

17 ALR 2,3

18 ALR 2,3

19 ALTEC 204

20 AME PRODUCTS 447

22 AMERICAN MITAC 393

25 AMERICAN RESEARCH CORP . 300

26 AMERICAN RESEARCH CORP . 300
33 ARLINGTON ELECTRONICS ... 453
38 AVANTECH SOLUTIONS.INC . . 444

401
41
42
43
44
399
82
86
87
423
103
426
429
660
661

131
138
441
344
345
346
347

Inquiry No.

Page No.

646 AYDIN CONTROLS PC-26

647 AYDIN CONTROLS PC-26

552 BITWISE DESIGNS.INC NE-12

553 BITWISE DESIGNS.INC NE-12

616 BOFFIN LTD SO-13

617 BOFFIN LTD SO-13

648 BOFFIN LTD PC-7

849 BOFFIN LTD PC-7

555 BSI NE-16

556 BSI NE-16

589 BSI MW-5

590 BSI MW-5

618 BSI SO-5

619 BSI SO-5

651 BSI PC-28

652 BSI PC-28

557 CAP COMPUTER CORP NE-31

591 CAF COMPUTER CORP MW-23

622 CAF COMPUTER CORP SO-23

653 CAF COMPUTER CORP PC-35

70 CLUB AMERICAN TECH., INC .. 199

• COMPAQ 154,155

• COMPUADD 88A-D

• COMPUADD 164A-D

560 COMPULYNK NE-3

561 COMPULYNK NE-3

562 COMP. SALES PROFESSIONAL .NE-11

563 COMP. SALES PROFESSIONAL .NE-11
93 CURTIS.INC 360

• DAK INDUSTRIES 42,45

103 DELL COMPUTER CORP Cll,1

104 DELL COMPUTER CORP. . . 102,103

105 DELL COMPUTER CORP ,104,105

• DELL COMPUTER CORP . . . 104A-B

564 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS , . NE-17

565 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS , , NE-17

594 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS . , , MW-1

595 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS. . , MW-1

625 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS, , , SO-7

626 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS, , , SO-7

657 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS, , , PC-1

658 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS . . . PC-1

• ELONEX IS-47

• ERGO COMPUTING 136A-B

127 ERGO COMPUTING 137

128 EVEREX SYSTEMS 256,257

132 FALCO DATA PRODUCTS 183

138 FLYTECHTECHNOLOGIES.INC . .53

431 FORTRON IS-9

432 FORTRON IS-9

• GATEWAY 2000 32A-H

155 HAUPPAUGE COMPUTER WORKS 234

566 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS NE-20

567 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS NE-20

662 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS PC-21

663 H.CO COMPUTER PRODUCTS PC-21
168 IBM PS/2 16,17

568 IME COMPUTERS NE-2

569 IME COMPUTERS NE-2

596 IME COMPUTERS MW-2

597 IME COMPUTERS MW-2

627 IME COMPUTERS SO-2

628 IME COMPUTERS SO-2

664 IME COMPUTERS PC-14

665 IME COMPUTERS PC-14

572 INTRA ELECTRONICS NE-32

600 INTRA ELECTRONICS MW-24

631 INTRA ELECTRONICS SO-24

668 INTRA ELECTRONICS PC-36

187 IVERSON COMPUTER CORP362,363

192 JEMINI ELECTRONICS 450

573 MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT , , NE-1

• MANCHESTER EQUIPMENT NE-72A-B
221 MEGATEL COMPUTER CORP, , 390

672 MICA COMPUTER PC-23

673 MICA COMPUTER PC-23

574 MICRO DESIGNS NE-4

575 MICRO DESIGNS NE-4

603 MICRO DESIGNS MW-4

604 MICRO DESIGNS MW-4

632 MICRO DESIGNS SO-4

633 MICRO DESIGNS SO-4

674 MICRO DESIGNS PC-4

675 MICRO DESIGNS PC-4

678 MICROCOM COMPUTERS , , PC-27

576 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS, NE-13

577 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS, NE-13

605 MICROSPEED COMPTERS ,,, MW-9

606 MICROSPEED COMPTERS ,,, MW-9

634 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS, SO-16

635 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS, SO-16

676 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS, PC-16

677 MICROSPEED COMPUTERS. PC-16

• MICROWAY 1920

229 MISCOMPUTER SYSTEMS . .. . 329

230 MIS COMPUTER SYSTEMS.... 329

579 MYODA.INC NE-23

580 MYODA.INC NE-23

608 MYODA.INC MW-15

609 MYODA.INC MW-15

637 MYODA.INC SO-1

638 MYODA.INC SO-1

679 MYODA.INC PC-17

680 MYODA.INC PC-17

253 NCR EUROPE 248,249

255 NEC SYSTEMS 64,65

258 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS , 209

259 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 210,211

458 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

READER SERVICE

Inquiry No.

Page No.

260 NORTHGATECOMPUTERSYS 212,213

262 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 216,217

263 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 218,219
265 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 242,243
297 RADIO SHACK CIV

581 REASON TECHNOLOGIES . . NE-8,9

610 REASON TECHNOLOGY , . . MW-6,7

582 SAMPO TECHNOLOGY CORP NE-26

611 SAMPO TECHNOLOGY CORP MW-1 8

639 SAMPO TECHNOLOGY CORP SO-1 8
686 SAMPO TECHNOLOGY CORP PC-30

583 SOFT & MORE NE-15

612 SOFT&MORE MW-16

640 SOFT&MORE SO-15

320 STANDARD COMPUTER . . . 124,125

333 SYSTAT 261

335 TANGENT COMPUTER 179

336 TECH CITY 399

337 TECH CITY 399

339 TELEPHONE PRODUCT CENTER441

340 TEXAS MICROSYSTEMS . 1920,193
■ TEXAS MICROSYSTEMS . 192DA-B

346 TOSHIBA 82,83

349 TOSHIBA 82,83

354 TRI-STAR COMPUTER 18

475 TWINHEAD IS.18,19

367 VICTORY ENTERPRISES 411

376 ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS 91

943 TERMINALS

81 COMPUTERWISE.INC 434

166 HUMMINGBIRD COMM.LTD ... 246

167 HUMMINGBIRD COMM.LTD ... 246

944 UPS

23 AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION99

24 AMERICAN POWER CONVERSION99
46 BEST POWER TECH.,INC 450

388 COMPUTER ACCESSORIES . . . 225

389 COMPUTER ACCESSORIES . , . 225

125 EMERSON UPS 319

126 EMERSON UPS 319

196 KNAPCO 444

277 PARA SYSTEMS 81

363 OPSONIC 189

364 UPSONIC 189

378 ZIRCOCORP 108

379 ZIRCOCORP 108

SOFTWARE

945 APPLE/MAC APPLICATIONS
Scientific/Technical

308 SAS INSTITUTE.INC 359

946 APPLE/MAC COMMUNICATIONS

50 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP 407

51 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP 407

947 APPLBMAC LANGUAGES

• COPIA INTERNATIONAL LTD . . . 208

948 APPLE/MAC UTIUTIES

173 INSIGNIA SOLUTIONS 106

949 ATARI/AMIGA — LAN

656 CONVEX PC-9

950 IBM/MSDOS APPLICATIONS
Business Office

30 ARCTANGENT.INC 447

31 ARCTANGENT.INC 447

34 ASHTON-TATE 56,57

35 ASHTON-TATE 56,57

108 DESKTOP TECHNOLOGY CORP. .90
141 FOX SOFTWARE 7

433 GAMMA PRODUCTIONS IS-28

434 GAMMA PRODUCTIONS IS-28

156 HAVENTREE SOFTWARE LTD . 224

157 HAVENTREE SOFTWARE LTD . 224
170 INDIGO SOFTWRE LTD 295

• LOTUS - WAGELWN 77

238 NANTUCKET CORPORATION . . 302

239 NANTUCKET CORPORATION . . 303
252 NATIONAL TELEVAR 110

• ORACLE Ill

295 QUARTERDECK 298,299

298 RAIMA CORP 49

392 RAIMA CORP 371

304 ROYKORE 92

951 IBM/MSDOS APPLICATIONS
Scientific/Technical

120 DSP DEVELOPMENT 391

202 LOGICAL DEVICES.INC 447

203 LOGICAL DEVICES.INC 447

278 PATTON & PATTON 80

309 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

310 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

311 SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

319 SPECTRUM 307

321 STATSOFT 87

333 SYSTAT 261
362 UNIVERSAL CRC^ASSEMBLERS 448

Inquiry No.

Page No.

952 IBM/MSDOS APPLICATIONS
Miscellaneous

554 BRIGHTBILL-ROSERTS NE-5

650 BRIGHTBILL-ROBERTS PC-6

• MICROSOFT 313

• MICROSOFT 315

• MICROSOFT 317

953 IBM/MSDOS APPLICATIONS
Word Processing

• MICROSOFT 8,9

954 IBM/MSDOS -CAD

27 AMERICAN SMALL BUSINESS . 143

39 A.M.S 450

656 CONVEX PC-9

143 GENERIC SOFTWARE 30,31

144 GENERIC SOFTWARE 30,31

374 WINTEKCORP 448

955 IBM/MSDOS COMMUNICATIONS

50 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP 407

51 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP 407
118 DIVERSIFIED COMPUTER SYS, 450
194 KEA SYSTEMS LTD 265

956 IBM/MSDOS GRAPHICS

45 BELL ATLANTIC 248,249

123 ELCEE COMPUTEK 411

186 TR 440

458 MICROGRAFX IS-43

• MICROSOFT 129

• MICROSOFT 130,131

317 SOFTWARE PUBUSHING CORP .254,255

957 IBM/MSDOS — LAN

213 MAP INFO 294

464 SAGE/POLYTRON IS-24

958 IBM/MSDOS LANGUAGES

72 CNS.INC 390

199 LAHEY 184

• MICROSOFT 21

• MICROSOFT 232,233

463 PROLOG DEVELOPMENT CTR IS-80

293 PSEUDOCORP 451

313 SEQUITERSOFTWARE.INC ... 244

322 STONY BROOK SOFTWARE ... 398

323 STONY BROOK SOFTWARE .. . 398

• WATCOM PRODUCTS 247

• ZORTECH 41

959 IBM/MSDOS UTILITIES

32 ARDEN SOFTWARE 88

36 ASHTON-TATE 93

37 ASHTON-TATE 93

49 BLAISE COMPUTING 6

53 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL 11

54 BORLAND INTERNATIONAL 11

66 CADRE TECHNOLOGIES 25

412 CLARION SOFTWARE IS-17

413 CLARION SOFTWARE IS-17

90 CTA 322

142 GCOM.INC 448

148 GREENVIEW 76

154 G.W.COMPUTERS.INC 200

440 IMT FRANCE IS-64

601 IRIS SOFTWARE MW-11

602 IRIS SOFTWARE MW-11

669 IRIS SOFTWARE PC-13

670 IRIS SOFTWARE PC-13

197 KNOWLEDGE GARDEN 413

211 MAGEEENTERPRISES.INC . . . .416

212 MAGEEENTERPRISES.INC ... .416

452 MASHOV(MSE)LTD IS-67

233 MIX SOFTWARE 405

266 NU-MEGA TECHNOLOGIES 78

267 OAKLAND GROUP.INC 310

684 PROSPERO SOFTWARE.INC . PC-2

685 PROSPERO SOFTWARE.INC . PC-2

304 ROYKORE 92

467 SOFTWARE DMI IS-16

332 SUPERSOFT 349

342 THE PERISCOPE CO 351

343 THE PERISCOPE CO 351

351 TOUCHSTONE -CHECKIT 79

352 TOUCHSTONE - CHECKIT 79

960 OTHER APPLICATIONS
Business Office

• LOTUS 1-2-3 -UNIX 229

961

OTHER APPLICATIONS
Miscellaneous

50 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP 407

51 BLAST/COMM.RESEARCH GRP 407
479 VIKING SOFTWARE SERVICE . IS-52

162 OTHER — CAD

215 MATHSOFT 327

216 MATHSOFT 327

163 OTHER — CROSS DEVELOPMENT

55 BOS NATIONAL.INC 444

414 COBALT BLUE IS-56

438 IXILTD IS-30

inquiry No.

Page No.

681 OPTICAL PUBLISHING.INC . . PC-14

682 OPTICAL PUBLISHING.INC . . PC-14
• SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT SYS IS-33

OTHER -LANGUAGES

BINARY TECHNOLOGY.INC . . . 443
BINARY TECHNOLOGY.INC . . . 443

CNS.INC 390

MARKWILLIAMSCO 75

METAWARE PC-25

IWINDROP 222

SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS 440

OTHER — UTILITIES

GREENVIEW 76

RAINDROP 222

SOFTWARE DMI IS-16

SUN MICRO 94,95

VENTURCOM 122

VENTURCOM 122

671
302
310
311
309

148
302
467
329
365
366

966 DESKTOP PUBLISHING

448 LASERMASTER CORP IS-75

449 LASERMASTER CORP IS-75

252 NATIONAL TELEVAR 110

283 PERSONAL TEX.INC 240

303 ROSE ELECTRONICS 101

967

EDUCATIONAL/
INSTRUCTIONAL

8 ABACUS SOFTWARE.INC 197

9 ABACUS SOFTWARE.INC 197

■ BYTE BACK ISSUES 434

59 BYTE BITS 450

• BYTE BOOK CLUB 320,321

• BYTE CARD DECK 432

• BYTE CARD DECK SO-9

• BYTESUB.MESSAGE 392

• BYTESUB.SERVICE 375

• BYTESUB.SERVICE IS-70

• BYTEWEEK/NEWSLETTER 410

• BYTEWEEK/NEWSLETTER . . . IS-79

• CCMI 436

• COMPUTER GRAPHICS SH0W'91 . NE-24
659 DEXPOWEST90 PC-5

570 INTERFACE GROUP NE-7

571 INTERFACE GROUP NE-7

598 INTERFACE GROUP MW-3

599 INTERFACE GROUP MW-3

629 INTERFACE GROUP SO-3

630 INTERFACE GROUP SO-3

666 INTERFACE GROUP PC-3

667 INTERFACE GROUP PC-3

• NRI/MCGRAW-HILL 384A-D

• SCAN SYMPOSIUM NE-22

968 MAIL ORDER/RETAIL

13 ADDON AMERICA 443

405 AMDS LTD IS-44

406 AMERICAN BUYING &EXP0RTINGIS-64

382 ANNABOOKS 420

383 ANNABOOKS 420

407 ATICO IS-40,41

646 AYDIN CONTROLS PC-26

647 AYDIN CONTROLS PC-26

40 B & B ELECTRONICS 450

52 BOFFIN LTD 420

616 BOFFIN LTD SO-13

617 BOFFIN LTD SO-13

648 BOFFIN LTD PC-7

649 BOFFIN LTD PC-7

56 BOW INDUSTRIES 448

620 BUSINESS COMPUTER SYS . . SO-9

621 BUSIN ESS COMPUTER SYS. . SO-9
58 BUSINESSLAND DIRECT 421

• BYTE BOOKCLUB 320,321

61 BSC MICROSYSTEMS 451

62 B&C MICROSYSTEMS 451

63 B&C MICROSYSTEMS 453

73 COMPUCLASSICS 380

419 COMPUSAVE INT'L IS-73

76 COMPUTER FRIENDS.INC .... 400

421 COMPUTER QUICK IS-46

562 COMP. SALES PROFESSIONAL .NE-11

563 COMP. SALES PROFESSIONAL .NE-11
80 COMPUTERLANE 445

656 CONVEX PC-9

• DAMARK INT'UINC 409

102 DATAWARE 421

564 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS . . NE-17

565 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS . . NE-17

594 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS. . , MW-1

595 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS. . . MW-1

625 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS . . , SO-7

626 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS . . SO-7

657 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS ... PC-1

658 DERBYTECH COMPUTERS . . . PC-1

112 DISKCOTECH 443

113 DISKCOTECH 443

114 DISKETTE CONNECTIONS ... . 447

115 DISPENSA-MATIC LABEL DISP , 421

121 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICS 198

122 DYNAMIC ELECTRONICS 198

426 ELEX INTERNATIONAL iS-61

129 EXIDE ELECTRONICS 420

inquiry No.

Page No.

130 EXIDE ELECTRONICS 420

135 FIRST SOURCE INTERNATIONAL449

136 FIRST SOURCE INTERNATIONAL449
396 GALAXY ELECTRONICS.INC . . 452

435 GREY MATTER IS-71

151 GTCO 421

159 HELLO DIRECT 420

568 IME COMPUTERS NE-2

569 IME COMPUTERS NE-2

596 IME COMPUTERS MW-2

597 IME COMPUTERS MW-2

627 IME COMPUTERS SO-2

628 IME COMPUTERS SO-2

664 IME COMPUTERS PC-14

665 IME COMPUTERS PC-14

442 INEX INTERNATIONAL IS-62

181 INTEL CORP/DEV.TOOLS 421

188 I.C.EXPRESS 453

185 I.S.C. POWER SYSTEMS ... 308,309

189 JADE COMPUTER 446

190 JAMECO 340,341

384 JAMECO 420

385 JAMECO 420

6 JDRMICRODEVICES 461,464

7 JDR MICRODEVICES 461 ,464

210 LYBEN 421

214 MARYMAC INDUSTRIES 452

455 MAYFAIR MICROS IS-14

578 MICROCOM COMPUTERS . . NE-21

607 MICROCOM COMPUTERS . . MW-13

636 MICROCOM COMPUTERS .. SO-11

• MICROCOMPUTER MKTG.CNCL PC-24
226 MICROPROCESSORS UNLTD . . 444
228 MIGRAPH 420

579 MYODA.INC NE-23

580 MYODA.INC NE-23

608 MYODA.INC MW-15

609 MYODA.INC MW-1S

637 MYODA.INC SO-1

638 MYODA.INC SO-1

679 MYODA.INC PC-17

680 MYODA.INC PC-17

250 NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS 421

256 NEVADA COMPUTER CORP . . . 442

258 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS .. . 209

259 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 210,211

260 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 212,213

261 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 214,215

262 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 216,217

263 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 218,219

264 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS .. . 220

265 NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS 242,243

• PC CONNECTION 112,114

• PC CONNECTION 115,116

• PCCONNEGTION 117

462 PROGRAMMERS ODYSSEY . . IS-12

288 PROGRAMMER'S CONNECTION 420

289 PROGRAMMER'S PARADISE . 59,61

390 PROGRAMMER'S SHOP . . . 158,161

391 PROGRAMMER'S SHOP . . . 158,161
296 R&R ELECTRONICS 452

581 REASON TECHNOLOGIES . . NE-8,9

610 REASON TECHNOLOGY . . . MW-6,7

312 SCOTTSDALE SYSTEMS 436

314 SHECOMCOMPUTERS.INC , . . 241

465 SMART SOFTWARE IS-48

316 SN'W COMPUTERS & ELECT . . 200

583 SOFT&MORE NE-15

612 SOFT&MORE MW-16

640 SOFT&MORE S0-1S

• SOFTLINECORP IS-45

466 SOFTWARE CONSTRUCTION CO IS-57
320 STANDARD COMPUTER ... 124,125
339 TELEPHONE PRODUCT CENTER441
341 THE CARD SHOP 421

360 UNITEX 438,439

361 UNITEX 438,439

478 USA SOFTWARE IS-29

370 VIRGIN MASTERTRONIC 420

969

MISCELLANEOUS

415
416
558
592
623
654
397
162
264
305
315

COMPEX.INC
COMPEX.INC
C.E.TD.C...
C.E.TD.C. . . .
C.E.TD.C...
C.E.TD.C. . . .
GEKENSHOJICO,
HOOLEON CORPORATION
NORTHGATE COMPUTER SYS
SAFEWARE.INC ....
SILICON SHACK LTD

LTD

. . IS-38
. . IS-38
. NE-30
. MW-22
SO-22
. PC-34
. . . 451
. 382
. . 220
. 444
. . 452

970

ON-LINE SERVICES

450 BIX 378,379

• BIX 414,434

• BIX IS-77

• BIXINTL 295

75 COMPUSERVE 282

107 DELPHI 184

971 OPERATING SYSTEMS

109 DIGITAL RESEARCH 29

427 ESIX SYSTEMS IS-13

193 KADAK PRODUCTS LTD 326

307 SANTA CRUZ OPERATION 55

358 UHC 417

366 VENTURCOM 122

367 VENTURCOM 122

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 459

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Circle the numbers ^^^L Check off the answers to ^^^^ Print your name, Hl^^ Remove this page or

below which correspond questions "A" through "E". Kjf address, and fax number copy this page clearly

to the numbers assigned ^^^H ^^^1 clearly on the form. ^^^H and fax it to the number

to advertisers and pro- ^||^| above,
ducts that interest you.

Fill out this coupon carefully. PLEASE PRINT.

Name

Title

Company

Address

City

State/Province

Zip

Country
( )

Phone Number

Fax Number

A. What is your primary job
function/principal area of responsibility?
(Check one.)

1 U MIS/DP

2 □ Programmer/Systems Analyst

3 □ Administration/Management

4 □ Sales/Marketing

5 □ Engineer/Scientist

6 □ Other

B. What is your level of management
responsibility?

7 □ Senior-level

8 □ Middle-level

9 □ Professional

C. Are you a reseller (VAR, VAD, Dealer,
Consultant)?

10 □ Yes 11 □ No

D. What operating systems are you currently
using? (Check all that apply.)

12 □ PC/MS-DOS

13 □ DOS + Windows

14 □ OS/2

15 □ UNIX

16 □ MacOS

17 □ VAX/VMS

E. For how many people do you influence the
purchase of hardware or software?

18 □ 1-25

19 □ 26-50

20 □ 51-99

21 □ 100 or more

Inquiry Numbers 1-495 Inquiry Numbers 496-990 Inquiry Numbers 991-1479

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

496

497

498

499

500

501

502

503

504

505

506

991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999

1000 100

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

507

508

509

510

511

512

513

514

515

516

517

1002 1003 1004 1005 1006 1007 1008 1009 1010

1011 101

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

518

519

520

521

522

523

524

525

526

527

528

1013 1014 1015 1016 1017 1018 1019 1020 1021

1022 102

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

529

530

531

532

533

534

535

536

537

538

539

1024 1025 1026 1027 1028 1029 1030 1031 1032

1033 103

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

540

541

542

543

544

545

546

547

548

549

550

1035 1036 1037 1038 1039 1040 1041 1042 1043

1044 104

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

551

552

553

554

555

556

557

558

559

560

561

1046 1047 1048 1049 1050 1051 1052 1053 1054

1055 105

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

562

563

564

565

566

567

568

569

570

571

572

1057 1058 1059 1060 1061 1062 1063 1064 1065

1066 106

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

573

574

575

576

577

578

579

580

581

582

583

1068 1069 1070 1071 1072 1073 1074 1075 1076

1077 107

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

584

535

586

587

588

589

590

591

592

593

594

1079 1080 1081 1082 1083 1084 1085 1086 1087

1088 108

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

107

108

109

110

595

596

597

598

599

600

601

602

603

604

605

1090 1091 1092 1093 1094 1095 1096 1097 1098

1099 110

111

112

113

114

115

116

117

118

119

120

121

606

607

608

609

610

611

612

613

614

615

616

1101 1102 1103 1104 1105 1106 1107 1108 1109

1110 111

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

617

618

619

620

621

622

623

624

625

626

627

1112 1113 1114 11 15 1116 1117 1118 1119 1120

1121 112

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

140

141

142

143

628

629

630

631

632

633

634

635

636

637

638

1123 1124 1125 1126 1127 1128 1129 1130 1131

1132 113

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

154

639

640

641

642

643

644

645

646

647

648

649

1134 1135 1136 1137 1 138 1 139 1 140 1 141 1142

1143 114

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

650

651

652

653

654

655

656

657

658

659

660

1145 1146 1147 1148 1149 1150 1151 1152 1153

1154 115

166

167

168

169

170

171

172

173

174

175

176

661

662

663

664

665

666

667

668

669

670

671

1156 1157 1158 1159 1160 1161 1162 1163 1164

1165 116

177

178

179

180

181

182

183

184

185

186

187

672

673

674

676

676

677

678

679

680

681

682

1167 1168 1169 1170 1171 1172 1173 1174 1175

1176 117

188

189

190

191

192

193

194

195

196

197

198

683

684

685

686

687

688

689

690

691

692

693

1178 1179 1180 1181 1182 1183 1184 1185 1186

1187 118

199

200

201

202

203

204

205

206

207

208

209

694

695

696

697

698

699

700

701

702

703

704

1189 1190 1191 1192 1193 1194 1195 1196 1197

1198 119

210

211

212

213

214

215

216

217

218

219

220

705

706

707

708

709

710

711

712

713

714

715

1200 1201 1202 1203 1204 1205 1206 1207 1208

1209 121

221

222

223

224

225

226

227

228

229

230

231

716

717

718

719

720

721

722

723

724

725

726

1211 1212 1213 1214 1215 1216 1217 1218 1219

1220 122

232

233

234

235

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

727

728

729

730

731

732

733

734

735

736

737

1222 1223 1224 1225 1226 1227 1228 1229 1230

1231 123

243

244

245

246

247

248

249

250

251

252

253

738

739

740

741

742

743

744

745

746

747

748

1233 1234 1235 1236 1237 1238 1239 1240 1241

1242 124

254

255

256

257

258

259

260

261

262

263

264

749

750

751

752

753

754

755

756

757

758

759

1244 1245 1246 1247 1248 1249 1250 1251 1252

1253 125

265

266

267

268

269

270

271

272

273

274

275

760

761

762

763

764

765

766

767

768

769

770

1255 1256 1257 1258 1259 1260 1261 1262 1263

1264 126

276

277

278

279

280

281

282

283

284

285

286

771

772

773

774

775

776

777

778

779

780

781

1266 1267 1268 1269 1270 1271 1272 1273 1274

1275 127

287

288

289

290

291

292

293

294

295

296

297

782

783

784

785

786

787

788

789

790

791

792

1277 1278 1279 1280 1281 1282 1283 1284 1285

1286 128

298

299

300

301

302

303

304

305

306

307

308

793

794

795

796

797

798

799

800

801

802

803

1288 1289 1290 1291 1292 1293 1294 1295 1296

1297 129

309

310

311

312

313

314

315

316

317

318

319

804

805

806

807

808

809

810

811

812

813

814

1299 1300 1301 1302 1303 1304 1305 1306 1307

1308 130

320

321

322

323

324

325

326

327

328

329

330

815

816

817

818

819

820

821

822

823

824

825

1310 1311 1312 1313 1314 1315 1316 1317 1318

1319 132

331

332

333

334

335

336

337

338

339

340

341

826

827

828

829

830

831

832

833

834

835

836

1321 1322 1323 1324 1325 1326 1327 1328 1329

1330 133

342

343

344

345

346

347

348

349

350

351

352

837

838

839

840

841

842

843

844

845

846

847

1332 1333 1334 1335 1336 1337 1338 1339 1340

1341 134

353

354

355

356

357

358

359

360

361

362

363

848

849

850

851

852

853

854

855

856

857

858

1343 1344 1345 1346 1347 1348 1349 1350 1351

1352 135

364

365

366

367

368

369

370

371

372

373

374

859

860

861

862

863

864

865

866

867

868

869

1354 1365 1356 1357 1358 1359 1360 1361 1362

1363 136

375

376

377

378

379

380

381

382

383

384

385

870

871

872

873

874

875

876

877

878

879

880

1365 1366 1367 1368 1369 1370 1371 1372 1373

1374 137

386

387

388

389

390

391

392

393

394

395

396

881

882

883

884

885

886

887

888

889

890

891

1376 1377 1378 1379 1380 1381 1382 1383 1384

1385 138

397

398

399

400

401

402

403

404

405

406

407

892

893

894

895

896

897

898

899

900

901

902

1387 1388 1389 1390 1391 1392 1393 1394 1395

1396 139

408

409

410

411

412

413

414

415

416

417

418

903

904

905

906

907

908

909

910

911

912

913

1398 1399 1400 1401 1402 1403 1404 1405 1406

1407 140

419

420

421

422

423

424

425

426

427

428

429

914

915

916

917

918

919

920

921

922

923

924

1409 1410 1411 1412 1413 1414 1415 1416 1417

1418 141

430

431

432

433

434

435

436

437

438

439

440

925

926

927

928

929

930

931

932

933

934

935

1420 1421 1422 1423 1424 1425 1426 1427 1428

1429 143

441

442

443

444

445

446

447

448

449

450

451

936

937

938

939

940

941

942

943

944

945

946

1431 1432 1433 1434 1435 1436 1437 1438 1439

1440 144

452

453

454

455

456

457

458

459

460

461

462

947

948

949

950

951

952

953

954

955

956

957

1442 1443 1444 1445 1446 1447 1448 1449 1450

1451 145

463

464

465

466

467

468

469

470

471

472

473

958

959

960

961

962

963

964

965

966

967

968

1453 1454 1455 1456 1457 1458 1459 1460 1461

1462 146

474

475

476

477

478

479

480

481

482

483

484

969

970

971

972

973

974

975

976

977

978

979

1464 1465 1466 1467 1468 1469 1470 1471 1472

1473 147

485

486

487

488

489

490

491

492

493

494

495

980

981

982

983

984

985

986

987

988

989

990

1475 1476 1477 1478 1479

□ / subscribe to BYTE. / do not subscribe to BYTE. Please send me one year of BYTE Magazine for $24.95 and bill me. Offer valid in U.S. and possessions only.

lini NOVEMBER 19

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Want More Information About the Products and Advertisers Featured in this Issue?

Circle numbers on reply card
which correspond to numbers
assigned to items of interest to you.

a

Check all the appropriate
answers to questions "A"
through "E".

Print your name and address
and mail.

Fill out this coupon carefully. PLEASE PRINT.

Name

( )

Title

Phone

Company

Address

City

State

Zip

A. What is your primary job function/priDcipal
area of responsibility? (Check one.)

1 □ MIS/DP

2 □ Programmer/Systems Analyst

3 C Administration/Management

4 □ Sales/Mariceting

5 □ Engineer/Scientist

6 □ Other

B. What is your level of management responsibility?

7 □ Senior-level 9 □ Professional

8 □ Middle-level

C Are you a reseller (VAR, VAD, Dealer, Consultant)?

10 □ Yes llDNo

Inquiry Numbers 1.493
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
21 22 23 24 2S 26 27 28

87 38

104 105

121 122

138 139

155 156

172 173

189 190

206 207

223 224

240 241

257 256

274 275

291 292

308 309

325 326

342 343

39 40

56 57

73 74

90 91

107 108

124 125

141 142

158 159

175 176

192 193

209 210

226 227

243 244

260 261

277 278

294 295

311 312

328 329

345 346

76

375 376 377 378 379 380

392 393 394 395 396 397

413 414

430 431

447 448

464 465

481 482

410 411 .

427 428 .

444 445 ■

461 462 '

478 479 ■

109 110 111 112 113

126 127 128 129 130

143 144 145 146 147

160 161 162 163 164

177 178 179 180 181

194 195 196 197 198

211 212 213 214 215

228 229 230 231 232

245 246 247 248 249

262 263 264 265 266

279 280 281 282 283

296 297 298 299 300

313 314 315 316 317

330 331 332 333 334

347 348 349 350 351

364 365 366 367 368

381 382 383 384 385

398 399 400 401 402

415 416 417 418 419

432 433 434 435 436

449 450 451 452 453

466 467 468 469 470

483 484 485 486 487

46 47

63 64

80 81

97 98

114 115

131 132

148 149

165 166

182 183

199 200

216 217

233 234

250 251

267 268

284 285

301 302

318 319

335 336

362 353

369 370

386 387

403 404

420 421

437 438

454 455

471 472

14 15

31 32

46 49

65 66

82 83

99 100

116 117

133 134

150 151

167 168

184 185

201 202

218 219

235 236

252 253

269 270

286 287

303 304

320 321

337 338

354 355

371 372

388 389

405 406

422 423

439 440

456 457

473 474

33 34 511 512

SO 51

67 68

84 85

101 102

118 119
135

152 153

169 170

186 187

203 204

220 221

237 238

254 255

271 272

288 289

305 306

322 323

339 340

356 357

373 374

390 391

407 408

424 425

441 442

458 459

475 476

492 493

596 597 598 599 600

36 613 614 615 616 617

630 631 632 633 634

847 648 649 650 651

664 665 666 667 668

681 682 683
698 699 700

715 :

717

716

732 733 734 735 736
749 750 751 752 753
766 767 768 769 770
783

784
800 801
817 818
834 835
851 852

785 786 787
802 803 804
819 820 821

Inquiry Numbers

499 500 501 502

516 517 518 519

533 534 535 536

550 551 552 553

567 568 569 570

584 585 586 587

601 602 603 604

616 619 620 621

635 636 637 638

652 653 654 655

669 670 671 672

686 687 688 639

703 704 706 706

720 721 722 723

737 738 739 740

754 755 756 757

771 772 773 774

788 789 790 791

805 806 807 808

822 823 824 825

839 840 841 842

856 857 858 859

873 874 875

494-986

503 504

520 521

53? 538

554 555

571 572

588 589

605 606

622 623

ess 640

656 657

673 674

690 691

707 708

724 725

741 742

758 759

775 776

792 793

809 810

826 827

843 844

506 507

523 524

540 541

557 558

574 575

591 592

608 609

625 626

642 643

876 877

902 903 904 905 906 907 908 909 910 911 912 913

919 920 921 922 923 924 925 926 927 928 929 930

936 937 338939940 941 942943944945946 947

963 954965966 957 958959960 961 962963964

970 971 972 973 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981

508 509 510

525 526 527

542 543 544

559 560 561

576 577 578

533 594 595

610 611 612

627 628 629

644 645 646

661 662 663

676 679 680

710 711 712 713 714

727 728 729 730 731

744 745 746 747 748

761 762 763 764 765

778 779 780 781 782

795 796 797 798 799

812 813 814 815 816

829 830 831 832 833

846 847 848 849 950

863 864 865 866 867

880 881 882 883 884

897 896 899 900 901

914 915 916 917 918

931 932 933 934 935

948 949 950 951 952

965 966 967 968 969

982 983 984 985 986

D. What operating svstems axe you currently using?
(Check all that apply)

12 □ PC/MS-IX)S 15 □ UNIX

13 □ DOS + Windows 16 □ MacOS

14 □ OS/2 17 □ VAX^MS

E. For how many people do you injluence the
purchase of hardware or software?

18 □ 1-25 20 □ 51-99

19 □ 26-50 21 □ 100 or more
□ Please send me one year of BYTE Magazine for

S24.95 and bill me. Offer valid in U.S. and
possessions only. NOVEMBER
IRSC004

Inquiry Numbers 987-1479
987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999 1000 1001 1002 1003
1004 1C05 1006 1007 1008 1009 1010 1011 1012 1013 1014 1015 1016 1017 10181019 1020
1021 1022 1023 1024 1025 1026 1027 1028 1029 1030 1031 1032 1033 1034 1035 1036 1037
1038 1039 1040 1041 1042 1043 1044 1045 1046 1047 1048 1049 1060 1051 1052 1063 1054
1055 1056 1067 1068 1069 1060 1061 1062 1063 1064 1065 1066 1067 1068 1069 1070 1071
1072 1073 1074 1075 1076 1077 1078 1079 1080 1081 1082 1 083 1084 1085 1086 1087 1088
1089 1090 1091 1092 1093 1094 1095 1096 10971098 109911001101 1102110311041105
110611071108110911101111 1112111311141115111611171118111911201121 1122
112311241125112611271126112911301131 11321133113411351136113711381139
11401141 1142114311441145114611471148114911501151 11521153115411551156
11571158115911601161 1162116311641165116611671168116911701171 11721173
11741175117611771178117911801181 118211831184118511861187118811891190
1191 11921193119411951196119711981199 1200 1201 1202 1203 1204 1205 1206 1207
1208 1209 12101211 1212 1213 1214 1215 121612171218 1219 1220 1221 1222 1223 1224
1225 1226 1227 1228 1229 1230 1231 1232 1233 1234 1235 1236 1237 1238 1239 1240 1241
1242 1243 1244 1246 1246 1247 1248 1249 1250 1251 1252 1253 1254 1255 1256 1257 1258
1259 1260 1261 1262 1263 1264 1265 1266 12671268 1269 1 270 1271 1272 1273 1274 1275
1276 12771278 1 279 1280 1281 1282 1283 1284 1285 1286 12871288 1289 1290 1291 1292
1293 1294 1295 1296 1297 1298 1299 1300 1301 1302 1303 1304 1305 1306 1307 1308 1309
1310 1311 1312 1313 1314 1315 1316 1317 1318 1319 1320 1321 1322 1323 1324 1325 1326
1327 1328 1329 1330 1331 1332 1333 1334 1335 1336 1337 1338 1339 1340 1341 1342 1343
1344 1345 1346 1347 1348 1349 1350 1351 1352 1353 1354 1355 1356 1357 1358 1359 1360
1361 1362 1363 1364 1365 1366 1367 1368 1369 1370 1371 1372 1373 1374 1375 1376 1377
1378 1379 1380 1381 1382 1383 1 384 1385 1386 1387 1388 1389 1390 1391 1392 1393 1394
1395 1396 1397 1398 1399 1400 1401 1402 1403 1404 1405 1406 1407 1408 1409 1410 1411
1412 1413 1414 1415 1416 1417 1418 1419 1420 1421 1422 1423 1424 1425 1426 1427 1428
1429 1430 1431 1432 1433 1434 1435 1436 1437 1438 1439 1440 1441 1442 1443 1444 1445
1446 1447 1448 1449 1450 1451 1452 1453 1454 1455 1456 1457 1458 1459 1460 1461 1462
1463 1464 1465 1466 1467 1468 1469 1470 1471 1472 1473 1474 1475 1476 1477 1478 1479

PLACE
POSTAGE
HERE

RVTF

READER SERVICE
PO Box 5110

Pittsfield, MA 01203-9926
USA

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Want More Information About the Products and Advertisers Featured in this Issue?

Circle numbers on reply card
which correspond to numbers
assigned to items of interest to you.

Check all the appropriate
answers to questions "A"
through "E".

El

Print your name and address
and mail.

PLACE
POSTAGE
HERE

READER SERVICE
PO Box 5110

Pittsfield, MA 01203-9926
USA

Fill out this coupon carefully. PLEASE PRINT.

Name

Title

Phone

Company

Address

City

18 19

35 36

52 53

69 70

86 87

103 1M

120 121

137 138

154 155

171 172

188 189

205 206

222 223

239 240

256 257

273 274

290 291

307 308

324 325

341 342

358 359

375 376

392 393

409 410

426 427

443 444

460 461

477 478

State

Zip

i. What is your primary job function/principal
rea of responsibility? (Check one.)

1 □ MIS/DP

2 □ Progranuner/Systems Analyst

3 □ Administration/Management

4 u Sales/Marketing

5 ~ Engineer/Scientist

6 Z Other

t. What is your level of management responsibility?

7 n Senior-level 9 □ Professional

8 □ Middle-level

:. Are you a reseller (VAR, VADt Dealer, Consultant)?

0 □ Yes 11 □ No

Inquiry Numbers 1-493

3 4
20 21
37 38
54 55
71 72
88 89
105 106
122 123
139 140
156 157
173 174
190 191
207 208
224 225
241 242
256 259
275 276
292 293
309 310
326 327
343 344
360 361
377 378
394 395
411 412
428 429
445 446
462 463
479 480

22 23 24 25

73

40
57
74

90 91

107 106

124 125

141 142

158 159

175 176

192 193

209 210

226 227

243 244

260 261

277 278

294 295

311 312

328 329

345 346

362 363

379 380

396 397

413 414

430 431

447 448

464 465

481 482

42 43 44 45

12 13 14 15

29 30 31 32

46 47 46 49

63 64 65 66

34

76 77 78 79

92 93 94 95 96

109 110 111 112 113

126 127 128 129 130

143 144 145 146 147

160 161 162 163 164

177 178 179 180 181

194 195 196 197 198

211 212 213 214 215

228 229 230 231 232

245 246 247 248 249

262 263 264 265 266

279 280 281 282 283

296 297 298 299 300

313 314 315 316 317

330 331 332 333 334

347 348 349 350 351

364 365 366 367 368

381 382 383 384 385

398 399 400 401 402

415 416 417 418 419

432 433 434 435 436

449 450 451 452 453

466 467 468 469 470

483 484 465 486 487

97 98

114 115

131 132

146 149

165 166

182 163

199 200

216 217

233 234

250 251

267 268

284 285

301 302

318 319

335 336

352 353

369 370

386 387

403 404

420 421

437 438

454 455

471 472

99 100

116 117

133 134

ISO 151

167 166

184 185

201 202

218 219

235 236

252 253

269 270

286 287

303 304

320 321

337 338

354 355

371 372

388 389

406 406

422 423

439 440

456 457

473 474

490 491

50 51

67 68

84 65

101 102

118 119

135 136

152 153

170

186 187

203 204

220 221

237 238

254 255

271 272

288 289

305 306

322 323

339 340

356 357

373 374

390 391

407 408

424 425

441 442

458 459

475 476

492 493

494 495

511 512

528 529

545 546

562 563

579 560

596 597

613 614

630 631

647 648

664 665

681 682

696 699

715 716

732 733

749 750

786 767

783 784

800 801

817 818

834 835

851 852

902 903

919 920

936 937

953 954

970 971

513 514

530 531

547 546

564 565

581 562

598 599

615 616

632 633

649 650

666 667

663 684

700 701

717 718

734 735

751 752

768 769

785 786

802 803

819 820

836 837

853 854

870 871

887 886 I

904 905 :

921 922 !

938 939 !

955 956 !

172 973 !

inquiry NumlKfs

496 499 500 501 502

515 516 517 516 519

532 533 534 535 536

549 550 551 552 553

566 567 566 569 570

583 584 585 586 587

600 601 602 603 604

618 619 620 621

635 636 637 638

652 653 654 655

669 670 671 672

494.986

503 504 505

520 521 522

537 536 539

554 555 556

571 572 573

568 589 590

605 606 607

622 623 624

639 640 641

656 657 658

673 674 675

506 507

523 524

540 541

557 556

574 575

591 592

608 609

625 626

642 643

659 660

676 677

508 509 510

525 526 527

569 560 561

576 577 576

593 594 595

610 611 612

627 628 629

644 645 616

661 662 663

678 679 680

702 70! 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714

719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731

736 737 736 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748

753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765

770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782

787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799

804 605 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816

821 822 823 824 825 826 827 828 829 630 831 832 833

838839840 841842 843844845846 847 848849850
855856 857 856859860 861862863864865866867

872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 680 881 882 883 884

889390 891 892833894895896 897 896699900 901

907 906 909 910 911 912 913 914 915 916 917 918

924 925926 927 928929930 931 932933934935

941 942 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 950 951 962

956959960 961 962963964965966 967 968969

975 976 977 976 979 980 981 382 983 984 935 986

1004 1005
1021 1022
1038 1039
1055 1056
1072 1073
1089 1090
11061107
11231124
11401141
11571158
11741175
1191 1192
1206 1209
1226 1226
1242 1243
1259 1260
1276 1277
1293 1294
13101311
1327 1328
1344 1345
1361 1362
1378 1379
1395 1396
14121413
1429 1430
1446 1447
14631464

D. What operating sj^ms are you currently using?
(Check all that apply)

12 □ PC/MS-DOS 15 □ UNIX

13 □ DOS + Windows 16 □ MacOS

14 □ OS/2 17 □ VAXrVMS

E. For how many people do you influence the
purchase of hardware or software?

18 □ 1-25 20 □ 51-99

19 □ 26-50 21 □ 100 or more

□ Please send me one year of BYTE Magazine for
S24.95 and bill me. Offer valid in U.S. and
possessions only. NOVEMBER
IRSC004

Inquiry Numljers 987-1479

989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 99910001001 10021003
1006 1007 1008 1009 1010 101 1 1012 1013 1014 1015 1016 1017 1018 1019 1020
1023 1024 1025 1026 1027 1028 1029 1030 1031 1032 1033 1034 1035 1036 1037
1040 1041 1042 1043 1044 1045 1046 1047 1048 1049 1050 1051 1052 1053 1054
1057 1058 1069 1060 1061 1062 1063 1064 1065 1 066 1067 1068 1069 1070 1071
1074 1075 1076 1077 1078 1079 1080 1081 1082 1083 1084 1085 1066 1087 1088
1091 1092 1093 1094 1095 1096 1097 1098 10991I0O11O1 1102110311041105
1108110911101111 1112111311141115111611171118111911201121 1122
1125112611271128112911301131 11321133113411351136113711381139
1142114311441145114611471148114911501151 11521153115411551156
115911601161 1162116311641165116611671168116911701171 11721173
11761177 1178 1179 1180 1181 H82 1183 1184 1185 1186 1187 1188 1189 1190
193 1194 1195 1196 1197 1198 1199 1200 1201 1202 1203 1204 1205 1206 1207
210 1211 1212 1213 1214 1215 1216 1217 1218 1219 1220 1221 1222 1223 1224
227 1228 1229 1230 1231 1232 1233 1234 1235 1236 1237 1238 1239 1240 1241
1244 1245 1246 1247 1248 1249 1250 1251 1252 1253 1254 1255 1256 1257 1258
1261 1262 12631264 1265 1266 1267 1268 1269 1270 1271 1272 1273 12741275
1278 1279 1280 1281 1282 1283 1284 1285 1286 1287 1288 1289 1290 1291 1292
1295 1296 1297 1298 1299 1300 1301 1302 1303 1304 1305 1306 1307 1308 1309
1312 1313 1314 1315 1316 1317 1318 1319 1320 1 321 1322 1323 1324 1325 1326
1329 1330 1331 1332 1 333 1334 1335 1336 1337 1338 1339 1340 1341 1342 1343
1346 1347 1348 1349 1 350 1351 1352 1353 1354 1355 1356 1357 1358 1359 1360
1363 1364 1365 1366 1367 1368 1369 1370 1371 1372 1373 1374 1375 1376 1377
1380 1381 1382 1383 1384 1385 1386 1387 1388 1389 1390 1391 1392 1393 1394
1397 1398 1399 1400 1401 1402 1403 1404 1405 1406 1407 1408 1409 1410 1411
1414 1415 1416 1417 1418 1419 1420 1421 1422 1423 1424 1425 1426 1427 1428
1431 1432 1433 1434 1435 1436 1437 1438 1439 1440 1441 1442 1443 1444 1445
1448 1449 14S0 1451 1452 1453 1454 1455 1456 1 457 1458 1459 1460 1461 1462
1465 1466 1467 1468 1469 1470 1471 1472 1473 1474 1475 1476 1477 1478 1479

2233 BRANHAM LANE, SAN JOSE CA 95124

BUY WITH CONFIDENCE FROM JDR!

• 30^>AY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

• 1 YEAR WARRANTY

• TOLL-FREE TECH SUPPORT

DYNAMIC RAMS

PART*

SIZE

SPEED

PINS

PRICE

4116-150

16384x1

150ns

16

1.49

4164-150

65536x1

150ns

16

2.49

4164-120

65536x1

120ns

15

2.89

4164-100

65536x1

100ns

16

3.39

TMS4464-12

65536x4

120ns

16

3.95

41256-150

262144x1

150ns

16

2.59

41256-120

262144x1

120ns

16

2.95

41256-100

262144x1

100ns

16

3.15

41256-80

262144x1

80ns

16

3.75

414256-100

262144x4

100ns

20

12.95

414256-80

262144x4

80ns

20

13.45

1MB-120

1048576x1

120ns

18

11.95

1MB-100

1048576x1

100ns

18

12.35

1MB-80

1048576x1

80ns

18

12.95

1MB-70

1048575x1

70ns

18

13.95

SIMM/SIP MODULES

PARTS

SIZE

SPEED

FOR

PRICE

41256A9B-80

256K X 9

80ns

SIMM/PC

49.95

421000A8B-10

1MB X 8

100ns

SIMM/MAC

109.95

421000A9B-10

1UB X 9

100ns

SIMMPC

113.95

421000A9B-80

1MB X 9

80ns

SIMM PC

119.95

421000A9B-60

lMBx9

60ns

SIMM PC

149.95

256K9SIP-80

256K X 9

80ns

SiP PC

54.95

256K9SIP-60

256K X 9

eons

SIPPC

64.95

1MBX9SIP-10

1MB X 9

100ns

SIP PC

116.95

1MBX9SIP-80

1MBx9

80ns

SIP PC

124.95

MATH CO-PROCESSORS

5 YEAR
WARRANTY

8087

5 MHz

89.95

8087-2

8 MHz

129.95

8087-1

10 MHz

169.95

80287-8

8 MHz

209.95

80287-10

10 MHz

239.95

80287-XLT

12MHz

247.95

80287-XL

6 8 10 12 MHz

247.95

80C287

12MHz

299.95

80387-16

16 MHz

359.95

80387-SX

16 MHz

319.95

80387-SX20

20 MHz

399.95

80387-16

16 MHz

359.95

80337-20

20 MHz

399.95

80387-25

25 MHz

499.95

80387-33

33MHz

649.00

•FOR COMPAQ L7E286, TANDY 2800

"FOR ALL OTHER 266-BASED SYSTEMS

CYRIX CO-PROCESSORS

STATE-OF-THE-ART TO SAVE YOU LONGEVITY WORRIES*
MANUAL S SOFTWARE GUIDE FULL 5-YEAR GUARANTEE'
83D87-16 16 MHz S299.95 83087-33 33MHz 549.00

83D87-20 20 MHz 349.95 83S87-16(SX) 16MHz 269.95
83D87-25 25MHz 439.95 83S87-20 (SX) 20MHz 329.95

Derici 's

HIGH-TECH
SPOTLIGHT

MODEM STANDARDS

I now feei comfortable publicly recommending
CCITT V.32 and MNP communications protocols!

CCITT V.32 is o description of the electrical sig-
nals used over ptione lines to move dote. The
CCITT is an international committee that refines the
I input from many modem industry experts into one
accepted standard- Sometimes users or industry
experts reject the efforts of standards committees
and follow a single industr/ leader (as was the case
with the IBM PC). Here, the committee prevailed.

The Microcom Network Protocol (MNP) is the
product of 1 company's efforts to fix data errors ond
I improve transmission efficiency. They've made their
i protocol available to others for a fee. and hove
been accepted by users en moss. The committee
opprooch has not worked well in this area.

MNP-5 is an implementotion of the protocol that
insures reliable data tronsfer and compresses data
at a rate of about 2 to 1 . Thus, a modem operating
at 9600 BPnS (bits per second) provides o data
transfer rote of approximately 19200 BPS— about 16
times the rote of older 1200 BPS stondords!

For we end users, how standards ore created is
of passing interest — we want solid ones that won't
be soon obsolete. CCin V.32 and MNP-5 will be
around for a long, long time.

Derick Moore. Director of Engineering

See JDR s modem selection on the next page.

mm 25MHz 386

' NORTON SI 26.6 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 30.1

■THE FASTEST NON-CACHING MOTHERBOARD THAT
WE TESTED. "—BYTE MAGAZINE. APRIL 1990.

■ MEMORY INTERLEAVING FOR NEAR ZERO WAIT STATES

■ SOCKETED FOR 80387 COPROCESSOR

■ USES SONS 256KOR 1MB SIMM.'DIP RAMS

■ 16MB RAM CAPACITY: 8MB ON BOARD, 8MB USING
OPTIONAL RAM CARD (0KB INSTALLED;

■ ON-BOARD RAM 1 2MB USING 4 8 256K SIMMS OR 4;8MB
USING 4 8 1MB SIMMS • FIVE 16-BIT SLOTS, TWO 8-BIT
SLOTS ONE 32-BIT SLOT FOR PROPRIETARY RAM CARD
AMI BIOS ■ SIZE: 8,5- X 13-

MCT-M386-25 S799.00

MCT-M386-M25 PROPRIETARY RAM CARD S99.95
1, 2MB USING 36 72 256KX1 DRAMS OR 4/8MB USING 36.72
1MBX1 DRAMS

$1495

33MHz CACHE 386

• NORTON SI 45.9 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 50.8

■ 33MHz 80386 CPU ■ 64K ZERO WAIT STATIC RAM CACHE

■ 1 2 4 SMB ON-BOARD RAM USING 80NS SIMMS
(0KB INSTALLED)

1 2MB USING 4 8 256K SIMMS OR 4'8MB USING 4:8 1 MB
SIMMS • SOCKETED FOR 80387-33 MATH CO-PROCESSOR
8 EXPANSION SLOTS (ONE 32-6IT, SIX 16-BIT, ONE 8-BITl

• AMI BIOS ASSURES IBM COMPATIBILITY

• 8 33MHz KEYBOARD ADJUSTABLE SPEEDS

MCT-386MBC-33 S1495.00

MCT-386MBC-25 25MHZ VERSION S999.00

MINI 25MHz $1299

CACHE 386 WITH RAM CARD

• NORTON SI 30.5 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 40.7

■ 25MH2 80386 • REQUIRES 1 OF THE RAM CARDS BELOW

■ SHADOW RAM FOR ROM BIOS

■ MEMORY CACHING FOR SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE

• MEMORY INTERLEAVING FOR NEAR O WAIT STATE
OPERATION (8 BANKS OF MEMORY REQUIREDI
SOCKETED FOR 80387 OR WEITEK 3167 COPROCESSORS

MCT-C386-25 S1 199.00

RAM CARDS (ONE REQUIRED FOR OPERATION):

1 2 4MBUSING8'16 32 255KX4DRAMSAND4,8;16 256KX1
DRAMS (OK INSTALLEDI

MCT-C386-M4 $99.95

1 2MB USING 36 72 256KX1 DRAMS OR 4,8MB USING 36/72
IMBXl DRAMS (OK INST]

MCT-C386-M8 $99.95

1 2 4MB USING 4 8 16 256K SIMMS, 4,8 16MB USING 4 8 16
1MB SIMMS OR 10 MB USING 8 1MB SIMMS AND 8 256K
SIMMS (OK INSTALLED)

MCT-C386-M16 $99.95

486 FROM AJ.R. ^2999

• LANDMARK AT SPEED 113.2

YOUR POWER SOLUTION FOR CAD CAM'CAE WORKSTA-
TIONS, AS WELL AS LAN SERVER APPLICATIONS'

■ DESIGNED FOR MULTI-TASKING S MULTI-USER APPLICA-
TIONS REQUIRING UNIX OR XENIX ■ INTEL 80486 CHIP HAS
A BUILT-IN MATH CO-PROCESSOR S 8K OF RAM CACHE

• INTEL 80486-25 CPU • EXPANDABLE TO 16MB ON BOARD
(OK INSTALLED) • SOCKETED FOR A WEITEK 4167 MATH
CO-PROCESSOR • SUPPORTS SHADOW RAM WITH
INTERNAL CACHE CONTROLLER ■ EIGHT 16-BIT BUS SLOTS,
6-LAYER BOARD DESIGN • COMPATIBLE WITH OS 2, NOVELL.
DESOVIEW, UNIX WINDOWS AND WINDOWS 3 0

AIR-486MB25 32,999.00

799 12.5MHz 286

$199

95

• NORTON SI 14.3 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 16.5

' STANDARD 8088 LAYOUT

• 286-COMPATIBLE • 6T2-5MHZ KEYBOARD SELECT SPEEDS
■ EXPANDABLE TO 4MB ON BOARD; 512K/1MB USING 18/36

256KX1 DRAMS: 24MB USING 18/36 1MBX1 DRAMS (0KB
INSTALLED)

• MEMORY SPEED: 120NSFQR 1 WAIT, 100NS FOR O WAIT

MCT-M286-12 $199.95

$399'

16MHz MINI 386-SX

• NORTON SI 15.3 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 20.8

■ USES 16MHz INTEL 80336SX CPU

• EXPANDABLE TO SMB ON BOARD

• 512K 1MB USING 18 36 256KX1 DRAMS OR 2 4 256K SIPS OR
4 8 256KX4 AND 2i 256KX1 DRAMS: 2:4MB USING 18/36
1MBX1 DRAMS OR 2 4 1MB SIPS: 6 8MB USING 36 1MBX1
DRAMS AND 2 4 1 MB SIPS AMI BIOS

■ CHOOSE FAST O WAIT STATE OR 1 WAIT STATE FOR
ECONOMICAL USE OF SLOWER RAM

• FIVE 16-BIT S THREE 8-BT EXPANSION SLOTS

■ CHIPS S TECHNOLOGY NEW ENHANCED ADVANCED
TECHNOLOGY (NEAT) CHIPSET

• SOCKET FOR 80387SX- 16 COPROCESSOR

• 8,5- X 13" SIZE FITS IN MINI-286 AND FULL-SIZE 286 CASES

MCT-386SX $399.95

20MHz 286

^389

95

• NORTON SI 20.3 • LANDMARK AT SPEED 26.3

. NEAT CHIPSET HAS POWER TO COMPETE WITH
386 SYSTEMS

■ EXPANDABLE FROM 5I2KT0 8MB: 512K/1MB USING 18 36
256KX1 DRAMS OR 2:4 256K SIPS; 2/4MB USING 18/36 1MBX1
DRAMS OR 2 4 1MB SIPS; 6'8MB USING 36 1MBX1 DRAMS
AND 2 4 1MB SIPS

• 20T0MHZ KEYBOARD SELECTABLE SPEEDS ■ AMI BIOS

• SHADOW RAM AND PAGE INTERLEAVED MEMORY

• FAST O WAIT STATE OR 1 WAIT STATE FOR SLOWER RAM

• 8,5- X 13- FITS MOST 8088. MINI-286 S FULL SIZE 285 CASES

• FIVE 16-BIT S THREE S-BIT SLOTS

• SOCKET FOR 80287-12 MATH CO-PROCESSOR
MCT-M286-20N $389.95

16MHz 286 W/NEAT CHIPSET ^289^^

MCT-M286-1 6N NORTON SI 16.2 / LANDMARK AT 21.1

12MHz 286 W/NEAT CHIPSET ^269^^

MCT-M286-1 2N NORTON SI 12.0/ LANDMARK ATIS.S

$99

95

lOMHZ 8088 NORTON SI 2.1

■ 8088- COMPATIBLE, OPERATES AT 4,77 lOMHz

• KEYBOARD SELECTABLE CLOCK SPEEDS • SOCKET FOR

8087-1 COPROCESSOR • 8 SLOTS • MCT BIOS • 640K RAM

CAPACITY /0KB INSTALLEDl

MCT-TURBO-10 $99.95

CUSTOMER SERVICE 800-538-5001
TECHNICAL SUPPORT 800-538-5002

MON.-FRI. 7 A.M. TO 5 P.M., SATURDAY, 9 AM. TO 3 P.M. (PST)

ORDER TOLL-FREE 800-538-5000

Circle 6 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 7)

NOVEMBER 1990 •BYTE 461

Microdevices

ORDER TOLL-FREE 800-S38-S000

KEY CODE

- 10

BUY WITH CONFIDENCE FROM JDRl

• 30-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

• 1 YEAR WARRANTY

• TOLL-FREE TECH SUPPORT

MONITORS

VGA
PACKAGE

\$4g09s

VGA COLOR AND
CLARITY AT AN EGA
PRICE! ■ 8-BIT VGA
CARD IS FULLY
COMPATIBLE WITH IBM
VGA • 640 X 480
RESOLUTION IN 16 COLORS
• HIGH RESOLUTION ANALOG
MONITOR • EGA'CGA'MONOAND
HERCULES COMPATIBLE- DRIVERS FOR
WINDOWS, GEM. LOTUS 1-2-3. SYMPHONY.
AUTOCAD S VENTURA

VGA-PKG

16-BIT VGA PACKAGE

16-BIT VERSION INCLUDES MCT-VGA-16
VGA-PKG-16

,.S499.95
.$529.00

POST CODE DIAGNOSES
SYSTEM PROBLEMS!

TO DIAGNOSE. PLUG IT INTO A CARD SLOT, j
READ THE INDICATOR DISPLAY S CHECK
THE MANUAL FOR THE CORRESPONDING
POWER-ON SELF-TEST CODE, SWITCH-
LESS AND JUMPERLESS DESIGN. COM-
PATIBLE W'80286 S 80386-BASED SYSTEMS,
PCODE $49.95

CABLES AND GENDER CHANGERS

MOLDED: GOLD-PLATED CONTACTS; 100% SHIELDED
CBL-PRNTR-25
CBL-PRINTR-RA
CBL-DB25-MM
CBL-DB25-MF
CBL-9-SERIAL
CBL-CNT-MM
GENDER-VGA

25 FT. PC PRINTER CABLE
RIGHT ANGLE PRINTER CABLE
DB25 MALE-DB25 MALE 6 FT.
DB25 MALE-DB25 FEMALE 6 FT.
DB9 FEMALE-DB25 MALE 6 FT.
36-PIN CENTRONICS -M/M
DB9-DB1 5 ADAPTOR

15.95
15.95
9.95
9.95
6.95
14.95
4.95

RELISYS MULTISYNCH $429.95

■ 14- NON-GLARE SCREEN • 800X560 MAX RESOLUTION

• CGA'EGAA'GA COMPATIBLE ■ TTfANALOG MODE

JDR-MULTI

RELYSIS VGA MONITOR $379.95

•14- ANALOG VGA MONITOR • GLARE RESISTANT SCREEN

• 720 X 480 MAXIMUM RESOLUTION • TILT/SWIVEL BASE
VGA-MONITOR

EGA MONITOR $339.95

■ 14- NON-GLARE SCREEN WITH 640 X 350 MAXIMUM
RESOLUTION • DISPLAY 16 COLORS SIMULTANEOUSLY
EGA-MONITOR

14" SCREEN MONO $139.95

■ GLARE-RESISTANT 14" SCREEN WITH AMBER DISPLAY
- 720 X 350 RESOLUTION • TILT/SWIVEL BASE

GM-1489

MONO-SAMSUNG SAMSUNG 12" FLAT SCREEN $129.95

MONO- VGA PAPERWHITE VGA MONITOR $1 39.95

NEC-MULTI-3D NEC MULTI-3D MULTISYNC $649.00

CM-1 440 SEIKO DUAL FIXED FREQUENCY $599.00

CM-1450 SEIKO 15- DUAL FIXED FREO $749.00

DISPLAY CARDS

16-BIT VGA $169.95

■ 640 X 480 IN 16 COLORS • 256K VIDEO RAM EXPANDABLE

T0 512K • 54 LEVELS OF GRAY SCALE

MCT-VGA-16

MCT-VGA-8 8-BIT VERSION $149.95

MCT-VGA-1024 1024 X 768 VGA $189.95

MCT-VGA-1024-f 1024 X 768 IN 256 COLORS $249.95

MOT- VGA VGA WITH TTL SUPPORT $189.95

MONO GRAPHICS/PRINTER $49.95

8088'286 COMPATIBLE • HERCULES COMPATIBLE
MONOGRAPHIOS - SUPPORTS LOTUS 1-2-3 • 720X348
DISPLAY • ADDRESS PARALLEL PRINTER PORT AS LPT1 OR 2
MCT-MGP

MORE DISPLAY CARDS

MCT-CGP GGA GRAPHICS FOR RGB MONITOR $49.95

MOT-EGA EGA CARD WITH 256K RAM $149.95

LiWefoot" CASE

$249^5

HUNDREDS MORE AVAILABLE —CALL FOR MORE INFO

• MOUNTS FOR STANDARD FULL SIZE
AND MINI-MOTHERBOARDS

• INCLUDES 250WATT POWER SUPPLY

• MOUNTS FOR 3 FLOPPY AND
4 HARD DRIVES

• TURBO AND RESET SWITCHES

• SPEED DISPLAY, POWER, DISK LEDS

• MOUNTING HARDWARE,
FACEPLATES AND SPEAKER INCL

CASE-100 $249.95

CASE-200 -SUPERFOOr— HOLDS 1 1 DRIVES $499.95

CASE-1 20 -MINIFOOr W/200 WATT PS $199.95

NOTE: CASES DO NOT INCLUDE DRIVES.

STANDARD t
CASES \

FULL SIZE SLIDE CASE
CASE-70 $89.95

CASE-50 FOR 8088 OR MINI-S5 ■.'C^^^SBOARDS $59.95

CASE-FLIP FLIP-TOP XT-STYLE CASE $39.95

CASE-SLIDE SLIDE TYPE XT-STYLE CASE $39.95

CASE-JR $149.95

WITH 150W POWER SUPPLY. FOR 8088 OR MINI-286 BOARDS.

CASE-JR-200 $189.95

WITH 200W POWER SUPPLY. FOR 8088 OR MINI-286 BOARDS,
NOTE; CASES DO NOT INCLUDE DRIVES.

PC POWER SUPPLIES

PS-1 35 1 35 WATT FOR 8088 - U.L. APPROVED $59.95

PS-150 150 WATT FOR 8088 - U.L. APPROVED $69.95

PS-200X 200 WATT FOR 8088 - U.L APPROVED $89.95

PS-200 200 WATT FOR 286,386 • U,L, APPROVED $89.95

PS-250 250 WATT FOR 286,-386 $129.95

UNINTERRUPTABLE POWER SUPPLIES

CONDITIONED CRITICAL LOAD/BACK-UP DURING BLACKOUT,
PART NO. VA FREQ. CURRENT BATTERY PRICE

EMERSON-20 300 60hz 2.50A lOmin. $299.95
EMERSON-30 500 60hz 4,20A lOmin. $499.95
EMERSON-40 800 60hz 6.70A lOmin. $699.00

P^S^^"'"^ for complata fine!
request our catalog

EPROMS

PART*

SIZE

SPEED

Vpp

PINS

PRICE

2716-1

2048x8

350ns

25V

24

3.95

2732A

4096x8

250ns

21V

24

3.95

2764

8192x8

450ns

12.5V

28

3.49

2764-250

8192x8

250ns

12.5V

28

3.69

2764-20O

8192x8

200ns

12.5V

28

4.25

27128

16384x8

250ns

12.5V

23

4.25

27128A-200

16384x8

200ns

12,5V

28

5.95

27256

32768x8

250ns

12,5V

28

4.95

27C256

32768x8

250ns

12.5V

26

5.95

27512

65536x8

250ns

12,5V

28

7.95

27C101-20

131072x8

200ns

12.5V

32

19.95

EPROM PROGRAMMER

• PROGRAMS 27XX AND 27XXX
EPROMS UP TO 27512 • SPLIT
OR COMBINE CONTENTS OF
SEVERAL DIFFERENT SIZED
EPROMS (VARIOUS FORMATS AND
VOLTAGES) • READ. WRITE, COPY.
BUNK CHECK AND VERIFY • HEX
AND INTEL HEX FORMATS SOFTWARE
MOD-EPROM

DATARASE II EPROM ERASER ^39^^

• SMALL SIZE! ■ ERASES ALL

SIZE EPROMS UP TO 4 AT A ~-
TIME- MOST IN 3 MINUTES - . ' •jjot

• WALL PLUG POWER SUPPLY
DATARASE II

JDR'S OWN MODULAR
PROGRAMMING SYSTEM

EACHUOOULBUSESA COmKIN HOST ADAPTOR CARD-USE
JUST 1 SLOT TO PROGRAM EPROMS, PROMS, PALS S, MORE!

COMMON HOST ADAPTOR CARD

■ UNIVERSAL INTERFACE FOR THE PROGRAMMING MOD-
ULES! • SELECTABLE ADDRESSES PREVENTS CONFLICTS
MOD-MAC $29.95

"iT^- UNIVERSAL
MODULE

\ ^^^^^B^^^^ • PROGRAMS EPROMS,
\^^^^^^^^ EEPROMS, PALS.

^^^^^ BI-POLAR PROMS, 8748 S 8751

SERIES DEVICES: 16V8 AND 20V8 GALS
(GENERIC ARRAY LOGIC) FROM LATTICE. NS, SGS

■ TESTS TTL, CMOS,DYNAMIC S STATIC RAMS

• LOAD DISK, SAVE DISK, EDIT BLANK CHECK, PROGRAM,
AUTO, READ MASTER, VERIFY AND COMPARE

• TEXTOOL SOCKET FOR .3- TO 6" WIDE I CS (8-40 PINS)

MOD-MUP $499.95

MOD-MUP-EA 4-UNIT ADAPTOR $99.95

EPROM MODULE ^HB^^

■ PROGRAMS 24-32 PIN EPROMS. CMOS EPROMS & 16K TO
1024K EEPROMS • HEX TO OBJ CONVERTER - AUTO,
BLANK CHECK PROGRAM.VERIFY • VPP 5. 12,5. 12,75. 13, 21
S, 25 VOLTS • NORMAL, INTELLIGENT. INTERACTIVE S
QUICK PULSE PROGRAMMING ALGORITHMS

MOD-MEP $119.95

MOD-MEP-4 4- EPROM PROGRAMMER $1 69.95

MOD-MEP-8 8-EPROM PROGRAMMER $259.95

MOD-MEP-16 16-EPROM PROGRAMMER $499.95

PAL MODULE ^249^^

■ PR(3GRAMS MMI. NS. Tl 20 S Tl 24 PIN DEVICES • BLANK
CHECK, PROGRAM, AUTO, READ MASTER, VERIFTY S
SECURITY FUSE BLOW

MOD-MPL

195

$

89

95

8-BIT SOLDERLESS8088 e—j.,
BREADBOARD WITH DECODE ^ 79 '

■ INCLUDES ADDRESS DECODING LOGIC, DATA BUFFERING,
2 LSI CIRCUITS FOR PROGRAMMABLE DIGITAL I'O AND
COUNTER-TIMER FUNCTIONS • LOGICALLY GROUPED

• ACCESSES ALL 62 1,0 SIGNAL CONNECTIONS ■ CLEARLY-
LABELLED BUS LINES ■ ACCEPTS UP TO 24 FOURTEEN-PIN
ICS ■ ACCEPTS 9, 15, 19. 25 OR 37.PIN D-SUBS

PDS-601 $79.95

PDS-600 ABOVE CARD WITHOUT DECODE $49.95

286 BUS BREADBOARD
WITH DECODE

■ ADDRESS DECODING LOGIC, DATAT BUFFERING. 2 LSI
CIRCUITS FOR PROGRAMMABLE DIGITAL I O AND COUNTER-
TIMER FUNCTIONS ■ ACCESSES ALL 95 1 O SIGNAL
CONNECTIONS ■ LOGICALLY GROUPED • OVER 2.000 PTS.

• ACCEPTS 9, 15, 19. 25 OR 37-PIN D-SUB CONNECTORS

PDS-611 $89.95

PDS-610 ABOVE CARD WITHOUT DECODE $59.95

MORE PROTOTYPE CARDS...

JDR-PR1 8-BIT WITH *5V AND GROUND PLANE 27.95

JDR-PR2 ABOVE WITH 10 DECODING LAYOUT 29.95

JDR-PR2-PK PARTS KIT FOR JDR-PR2 ABOVE 8.95

JDR-PR10 16-BITV/ITHI,'0 DECODING LAYOUT 34.95

JDR-PR1 0-PK PARTS KIT FOR JDR-PR1 0 ABOVE 1 2.95

MORE PROGRAMMING MODULES...

MOD-MMP MICROPROCESSOR PROGRAMMER $179.95

MOD-MIC DIGITAL IC S MEMORY TESTER $129.95

MOD-MBP BI-POLAR PROM PROGRAMMER $259.95

PAL DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE

ENTRY-LEVEL PAL DEVELOPMENTFROM CUPL, FULL SUP-
PORT FOR 16L8, 16R4. 15R6. 16R8, 20L8. 20R4, 20R8 S 20X8.
MOD-MPL-SOFT $99.95

TERMS: Minimum orderSlQ.OO- For shipping S tiantfiing include S4.()0 for ground and S5.50 for air. Ordersover 1 ID ^ 'c = . s v .-.-C'tiona! shipping charges— contact

oor Sales Dept. tor the amoum. CA residents must include applicabte sales tax. Prices subjecl to change without notice .-^graphical errors. Wereservethe

right to limit quantities and to substitute manufacturer. A!f merchandise subject to prior sales. A fui! copy of our terms is a.a . ac e ^por reaves; iten-; s ctured may only be representative.
JDR. the JDR logo. JDR Microdevices. and the MCT logo are reaistered Irademarte of JDR MICRODEVICES. INC. Moaular Circiiit Techrioiogy Uttletool Minifoot and Superfoot are
trademarits of JDR MICRODEVICES. INC. Copynght 1990 JDR MICRODEVICES.

462 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

Circle 6 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 7)

tfbjDR Microdevices

■ ■ 2233 BRANHAM LANE, SAN JOSE CA 95124 • TOLL-FREE TECH SUPPORT

BUY WITH CONFIDENCE FROM JDR!
® • 30-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

Tl MICROLASER"
—FAST, AFFORDABLE
AND EXPANDABLE!

EXPANDABLE PRINTER HAS TEXAS

■ INSTRUMENTS QUALITY AND
RELIABILITY IN A COMPACT SIZE!

■ UPGRADEABLE TO 4.5MB AND
POSTSCRIPT® • 300 DPI • 6 PPM
OUTPUT • 250 SHEET DRAWER

• MANUAL FEED ■ 40 ENVELOPE AUTO FEED • .5MB RAM
BASE UNIT • EMULATES HP LASERJET II

MICROLASER $1495.00

MICROLASER-PS $2495.00

WITH35-FONT POSTSCRIPT® AND 1 .5M8 RAM

TEFAX—FAX, COPIER,
SCANNER, PHONE &
PRINTER

• G3/G2 FAX MACHINE • 8.5-
SCAN WIDTH • 200 DPI SCAN-
NER • SAME SIZE COPIER

• FAX SOFTWARE FOR IBM & MAC
TEFAX $995.00

JDR'S AN AUTHORIZED EPSON
DEALER— CALL US FOR QUOTES

' AUTO FAX SEND

CITIZEN 200GX
COLOR PRINTER

CITIZEN EXPANDS 9-WIRE
TECHNOLOGY TO THE CUTTING
EDGE! OPTIONAL COLOR KIT
PROVIDES VIVID COLOR OUTPUT
UNRIVALLED IN ITS PRICE RANGE!
• 5 RESIDENT FONTS • 240X216 DPI • 213 CPS DRAFT
MODE; 40 CPS LETTER QUALITY ■ PARALLEL INTERFACE

• 8K PRINT BUFFER

CTZ-200GX-C $199.95

CTZ-200GXCOLOR COLOR ON COMMAND KIT $59.95

KODAK DICONIX 150+
PORTABLE PRINTER

THE PEFECT COMPANION FOR YOUR
LAPTOP OR OUR CARRY-1 PC! -~. ■

WEIGHS 5LBS AND MEASURES JUST " ■
5.5"X11-X2-!

• QUIET NON-IMPACT INK-JET TECHNOLOGY

• UP TO ISO CPS • DRAFT, NLQ. QUALITY AND CONDENSED
MODES • USES CUT-SHEET OR CONTINUOUS FORM PAPER

• SUPPORTS EPSON FX-80 S IBM PROPRINTER COMMANDS

DICONIX-150 $399.95

FUJITSU COLOR PLOTTER

COMPACT PLOTTER • HP7475A COMPATIBLE • .025MM RES.
FPG-315 $799.00

ADD 425 FONTS
WITH 1 CARTRIDGE!

$349

T

95

new!

NEW SUPERSET* HAS THE CAPABILITIES
OF THESE CARTRIDGES: PDP'S "25 IN
ONE.- HP'S MASTERTYPE "PROOOLLEC-
TION,- HP'S -MICROSOFT CARTRIDGE.
HEADLINE FONTS S 18 PTS AND JET-
WARE'S 12/30 ■ FOR HP LASER-JET
SERIES II, IID, IIP, III AND PCL COMPATI-
BLE • PRINTER DRIVERS FOR WORDPERFECT. MS WORD, MS
WINDOWS, EXCEL, PAGEMAKER, WORD, AMI PROFESSIONAL.
VENTURA PUBLISHERS, WORDSTAR AND LOTUS 1-2-3.

SUPERSET-f

RAM CARD FOR HP LASERJET ^89^^

■ FOR HP LASERJET II PRINTERS • USER EXPANDABLE
TO 1/2/4MB (OK INSTALLED) ■ USES 1MB 120 NS DRAMS

MCT-RAMJET $89.95

MCT-RAMJET-P $99.95

1/2/3/4MB FOR IIP. USES 256K X 4 DRAMS

COLOR HAND aa
SCANNER! 09!f

• 400 DPI 16-COLOR DITHER MODE

• 200 DPI! 6-SHADE GRAYSCALE

• TRUE 400 DPI MONO MODE

• 3 SWITCH-SELECTABLE
64-SHADE DITHER
PATTERNS

• 3.5MS/LINE SCAN SPEED

• 7-SEGMENT LED STATUS •. -
READOUT

• BRIGHTNESS CONTROL - —

• HALF-LENGTH 16-BIT

INTERFACE CARD ^

• SCAN EXERCISER SOFTWARE
CONFIGURES THE SCANNER, SCANS

IMAGES IN ANY MODE, LETS YOU VIEW

REAL TIME IMAGE, THEN SAVES IN PCX FILE FORMAT

• INCLUDES ZSOFT PAINTBRUSH VI PLUS FOR EDITING AND
ENHANCING YOUR IMAGE

CHS-4000 $599.00

INTRODUCING
THE MINI-SIZE
286 COMPUTER

^599

JUST 7=/" X a-^" X IJf'

HIGH PERFORMANCE
IBM-PC COMPATIBLE
COMPUTER CAN
COMPETE WITH A FULL
SIZE PC! STAND IT UP-
RIGHT, SET IT UNDER
A MONITOR— ITS
COMPACT SIZE IS THE
PERFECT SOLUTION
FOR A CROWDED
DESK, A COST-CONSCIOUS
SCHOOL OR AN EASILY TRANSPORTABLE HOME COMPUTER,

12MHZ 80286 CPU WITH O WAIT STATE
AMI BIOS WITH DIAGNOSTICS • 1 MB MEMORY
TWO SERIAL, ONE PARALLEL PORT
BUILT-IN CGA/MGA DISPLAY ADAPTOR
BUILT-IN 3,5- 1 ,44MB FLOPPY

7-1/2-WX9-1/2-LX1-3/4-H • WEIGHS JUST OVER 6 LBS,

WORKS WITH ANY STANDARD KEYBOARD

INCLUDES CARRY BAG, 30W POWER ADAPTOR.

MINI-UPRIGHT STANDS AND MANUAL

FCC CLASS B APPROVED

CARRY-1 C WITH 1 .44MB FLOPPY DRIVE $599.00

CARRY-1 D WITH 1 .44MB FLOPPYS, 40MB HD $899.00

CARRY-1 80S8-BASED VERSION $299.95

CARRY-1 B ENHANCED 8088 VERSION $399.95

INCLUDES 2 FLOPPY DRIVES (720K) AND 640K RAM.
CARRy-1 K 82-KEY CARRY-1 KEYBOARD $49.95

DFI LOW COST ETHERNET CARD

• 100% HARDWARE COMPATIBLE WITH
NOVELL NE-1000 ETHERNET CARD

• FOR THICK OR THIN ETHERNET

• 15-PIN ETHERNET CONNECTOR

■ BNC CONNECTOR FOR THIN ETHERNET!
DFINET-300 8-BIT VERSION ...$199.95 f
DFINET-400 16-BIT VERSION .$239.95

MINI 2400 BPS
WITH SEND ONLY

$699

9600 BAUD V.32 MODEM
WITH SEND/RECEIVE FAX

THIS NEW EXTERNAL MODEM IS V.32 AND V.42 COMPATIBLE,
THE EMERGING 9600 BPS STANDARDS. PLUS IT NOW HAS
FULL GROUP 3 FAX SEND AND RECEIVE CAPABILITY. THIS
MACHINE TRANSFORMS YOUR PC INTO A COMPLETE
PERSONAL INFORMATION CENTER

• 9600/4800/2400/1200 BPS DATA MODEM

• CCITT V.32 , V.42 ERROR CORRECTION COMPATIBLE

• MNP-5 ERROR CORRECTION AND DATA COMPRESSION
FOR THROUGHPUTS UP TO 19200 BPS

• 9600 BPS GROUP III SEND AND RECEIVE FAX

• INCLUDES PRO-COMM COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE

• INCLUDES FAX-IT FAX SOFTWARE

• 2 YEAR WARRANTY

PRO-96EF

INTERNAL FAX MODEM

• 2400/1 200/300 BPS DATA MODEM
■ 9600 BAUD SEND/RECEIVE FAX CAPABILITY

8088,285, 386 COMPATIBLE CARD

PRO-MAXI

2400 BPS MNP ERROR
CORRECTING MODEM

$229^^

THIS TINY EXTERNAL MODEM PACKS A BIGGER PUNCH THAN
YOU'D EXPECT! NOT ONLY IS IT A FULL FUNCTION 2400 BPS
DATA MODEM BUT IT ALSO OPERATES AS A SEND-ONLY FAX
AT A REMARKABLY LOW PRICE!

2400/1200/300 BPS DATA MODEM

CCITT V,22n/,22BIS, BELL 103/212A COMPATIBLE
4300 BPS GROUP III SEND ONLY FAX

MEASURES JUST 6,25 X 3.8 X 2 INCHES

8 STATUS LEDS

INCLUDES PRO-COMM COMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE
INCLUDES FAX-IT FAX SOFTWARE
2 YEAR WARRANTY

PRO-EFXM

MINI-MODEM WITH 9600 BPS FAX-SEND SPEED
PRO-EFXM-96 $169.95

2400BPS MINI MODEM

AS ABOVE BUT WITHOUT FAX CAPABILITY
PR0-24E

^119^"

AN ECONOMICALLY PRICED EXTERNAL MODEM THAT NOW
INCLUDES MNP-5 ERROR CORRECTION AND DATA
COMPRESSION CAPABILITY

2400/1200/300 BPS DATA MODEM

CCITT V.22A/.22BIS. BELL 103/212A COMPATIBLE

DATA COMPRESSION BOOSTS THROUGHPUT UP TO

4800 BPS

8 STATUS LEDS

AT COMMAND SET COMPATIBLE
AUTO DIAL AND AUTO ANSWER
2 YEAR WARRANTY
PRO-24EMNP

PRO-24E EXTERNAL 2400 BAUD MODEM-NO MNP , $149.95

INTERNAL MNP M0DEM^89^^

IPLUG-IN CARD MODEM HAS SAME FEATURES AS ABOVE
MODEL. FOR 8088, 286/386 COMPUTERS
PRO-24MNP

PRO-241 INTERNAL 240O BAUD MODEM-NO MNP $99.95

■KM CUSTOMER SERVICE 800-538-5001 MON.-FRL 7 A.M. TO 5 P.M., SATURDAY, 9 A.M. TO 3 P.M. (PST) key

S ™f9f ™de!!J^^*^^^^ order toll-free 800-538-5000 ^

Circle 6 on Reader Service Card (RESELLERS: 7)

NOVEMBER 1990 -BYTE 463

■ li 2233 BRAm

Microdevices

2233 BRANHAM LANE, SAN JOSE CA 9S124

BUY WITH CONFIDENCE FROM JDR!

• 30^>AY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

• 1 YEAR WARRANTY

• TOLL-FREE TECH SUPPORT

HIGH DENSITY HARD DRIVES

NEW! NEC1S3.SMB!

• 153 5MB CAPACITY
■ ESDI INTERFACE

• AVG ACCESS TIME : ISMS-

• RECORDING: 19.612 BPI BIT,
1,240 TRACK DENSITIES

• 20 SEC START/STOP TIME

• REO, DC*5V, *12V POWER

• USES 2-7 RLL METHOD AND NRZ
TRANSFER MODE

5655 S849.00

MICROPOUS DRIVES

KITS INCLUDE FLOPPY HARD CONTROLLER AND CABLE

1355 157,5MB ESDI, 23MS KIT: S1049 DRIVE: S949

1375 157 5MB SCSI, 23MS KIT: S1099 DRIVE: S899

1558 338 1MB ESDI, 18MS KIT: S1799 ,.. DRIVE: S1619

1578 338,1MB SCSI, 18MS KIT: S1799 ... DRIVE: S1619

1568 676.6MB ESDI. 16MS DRIVE: S2499

1588 676 8MB SCSI, 16MS DRIVE: $2499

$99^5 ^

1.44MB ^ Q

3-1/2" DRIVE

■ 80 TRACKS • 135TPI • HIGH DENSITY

• READ/WRITE 720K DISKS, TOO

■ INCLUDES ALL NECESSARY MOUNTING HARDWARE

FDD-1.44X BLACK FACEPLATE $99,95 1

FDD-1.44A BEIGE FACEPLATE $99.95 I

FDD-1.44SOFT SOFTWARE DRIVER $19.95 I

MF355A 3-1:2- MITSUBISHI 1 44MB. BEIGE $129.95 [

MF355X 3-1/2- MITSUBISHI 1 44U8, BLACK $129.95

FDD-360 5-1/4- DOUBLE-SIDED DD 360K $69.95

FD-55B 5-1/4- TEAC DOUBLE-SIDED DD360K $89.95

FDD-1 .2 5-1/4- DOUBLE-SIDED HO 1 .2M $89.95

FD-55GFV 5-1 /4- TEAC DOUBLE-SIDED HD 1 .2M $1 29.95 J

ENHANCED KEYBOARDS

FC-3001 101-KEY. 12 F-KEYS a CALCULATOR $74.95

BTC-5339 101 KEY WITH 12 FUNCTION KEYS $69.95

BTC-5339R COMPACT lOI -KEY. 30% SMALLER $79.95

MAX-5339 101-KEYMAXI-SWITCH(286ONLY) $84.95

K103-A AUDIBLE -CLICK- 101-KEY KEYBOARD $84.95

STANDARD KEYBOARDS

BTC-5060 84-KEY WITH 10 FUNCTION KEYS $59.95

^MAX-5060 MAXI-SWITCH 84-KEY(286 ONLY) $64.95j

PC-TRAC ^89^^

■ HIGH RES 1200 PULSE'INCH)

• 2-AXIS POINTING DEVICE (X S Y)

• INCLUDES MAP DEVICE DRIVE
WITH BALLISTIC GAIN

PC-TRAC W/RS-232C SERIAL INTERFACE"
FAST-TRAP THE 3-AXis MOUSE alternative: $109.£

LOGITECH TRACKMAN

•TO 300 DPI RES • MOUSEWARE UTILITIES.
MENUS, MOUSE -2-3 • REG 256K MIN MEMORY
TRACKMAN SERIAL VERSION —NO CARD REO $98.95

TRACKMAN-B BUS VERSION $95.95

W/SHORT CARD FOR 8088. 286, 386 OR PS/2 MODELS 25 S 30

LOGITECH MICE

•3-BUTTON SERIES 9 ■ 320 DPI RES. • SERIAL PS/2 COMPAT.

L0GC9 SERIAL MOUSE $98.95

L0GC9-C SERIAL MOUSE (NOT PS.2 COMPATIBLE) .. $79.95

L0GC9-P SERIAL MOUSE WITH PAINTSHOW SI 09.95

L0GB9 BUS MOUSE S39.95

L0GB9-P BUS MOUSE WITH PAINTSHOW S104.95

GENISCAN
SCANNER

• UP TO 400 DPI • 32
LEVELS OF GRAY SCALE

• W/INTERFACE CARD.SCAN-
EDIT il AND DR.GENIUS
GS-4500 $199.95 ^

(^Seagate HARD DISKS DRIVE KITS

21.4MB '199 65.5MB '389 21.4MB '249
32.7MB '219 80.2MB '569 32.7MB '279

42.8MB '339 84.9MB '499 ^ Seagate ^

AVG.

FORM

DRIVE

XT

atf/h\

SIZE

MODEL

SPEED

FACTOR

ONLY

KIT

KIT L

21.4MB

ST-225

65MS

5-1,4-

SI 99

$249

S309 1

32 7MB RLL

ST.238

65MS

5-1/4-

S219

$279

$379 [

42.8MB

ST-251-1

28MS

5-1/4"

S339

$389

$449

43.1 MB SCSI

ST-251N

40MS

5-1M-

S419

65.5MB RLL

ST-277-1

28MS

5-1/4"

S389

$449

$549 !

80.2MB

ST-4096

28MS

5-1/4"

S569

$679

84.9MB SCSI

ST-296N

28MS

5-1/4"

S499

122.7MB RLL

ST-4144R

28MS

5-1/4"

S699

$759

$859

21 4MB

ST-125

40MS

3-1/2"

3259

$299

$373

32.1MB RLL

ST-138R

40MS

3-1/2-

$289

$339

$429

MODULAR CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGY INTERFACE CARDS

DRIVE CONTROLLERS

1.44MB
FLOPPY
$4Q95

'"ir'Tf t ',l l li'i<l(|||)|l.i||,| IB-HI

• 8088 OR 236 COMPATIBLE • SUPPORTS 2 FLOPPY DRIVES
(360K. 720K. 1 2MBS 1 44MBI • USER SELECTABLE AS A
PRIMARY OR SECONDARY I3RD OR 4TH) FLOPPY DRIVE
MCT-FDC-HD $49.95

HIGH DENSITY 4-FLOPPY CARD $59.95

■ INTERFACES UP TO 4 FLOPPY DRIVES • CABLES FOR 4
INTERNAL DRIVES ■ BIOS FOR ANY COMBO OF DRIVES

MCT-FDC-HD4

FLOPPY DISK CONTROLLER $29.95

■ INTERFACES UP TO 4 360K:720K FLOPPY DRIVES

• DB37 CONNECTOR FOR EXTERNAL DRIVES
MCT-FDC

HARD DISK CONTROLLER $79.95

■ SUPPORTS 16 DRIVE SIZES INCLUDING 10, 20, 30 AND
40MB • CAN DIVIDE I LARGE DRIVE INTO 2 LOGICAL DRIVES
MCT-HDC

MCT-RLL RLL CARD SUPPORTS 2 RLL DRIVES $89.95

286/386 FLOPPY/HARD $149.95

• 1 1 INTERLEAVE FOR IMPROVED PERFORMANCE

■ CONTROLS 2 HARD S 2 FLOPPY DRIVES (360K/720K;1 .2UB/
1 44MB) ■ CONCURRENTLY USE HARD S FLOPPY DRIVES
MCT-FAFH

IDE MULTI-IO FLOPPY/HARD $89.95

■ supports 2 ide hard drives s 2 floppies ■ 2 serial
s 1 parallel port • supports comi s2. lpt 1 .2.3

lJKJT-IDEIO

4800/2400 BPS
FAX MODEM

'119

95

'119

• 4800 baud group iii fax transmission only • 2400
bps data modem • w:menu driven profax software

• sends dos text. pcx s tiff files to fax trans
MCT-FAXM $119.95

MCT-241 internal 2400 BAUD DATA MODEM $89.95

MCT-121 internal 1200 baud data modem $59.95

VIVA 2400
BAUD MODEM

• 2400 1200 300 BAUD OPERATION • HAYES
AT COMMAND SET COMPAT • EXTENDED
S-REGISTER PROGRAMMING - SPEAKER

• 2ND PHONE JACK - AUTO DIAL TONEj'
REDIAL • STD RS-232C INTERFACE

VIVA-24E $119.95

VIVA-24MNP $149.95

ERROR CORRECTING VERSION

FAX/PHONE SWITCHER

ROUTES CALLS FROM 1 PHONE LINE TO YOUR FAX. MODEM
AND ANSWERING MACHINE! ■ OPERATES ON SINGLE OR
MULTLLINE SYSTEMS • AUXILLARY PORT
. FAXM-SWITCH SI 09.95 ,

MULTIFUNCTION I/O CARDS

MULTI I/O CARD $59.95

• SERIAL PORT • CLOCK/CALENDAR WITH BATTERY

• PARALLEL PORT IS ADDRESSABLE AS LPT1 OR LPT2

MCT-IO

MULTI I/O FLOPPY

■ SUPPORTS UP TO 2 360K FLOPPIES

• SERIAL, PARALLEL, GAME PORT AND CLOCK./CALENDAR

MCT-MIO

286/386 MULTI I/O CARD $59.95

• SERIAL. PARALLEL AND GAME PORTS • USES 16450
SERIAL SUPPORT CHIPS FOR HIGH SPEED OPERATION
MCT-AIO

NEW! ALL-IN-ONE-CONTROLLER$129.95

• MONOCHROME GRAPHICS ■ SUPPORTS 2 IDE HARD
DRIVES AND 2 FLOPPIES • 2 SERIAL AND 1 PARALLEL PORT
MCT-MGEIO

MEMORY CARDS

576K RAM CARD $49.95

■ USER SELECTABLE CONFIGURATION TO 576K • USES 64K
AND 256K DRAMS lOK INSTALLED)
MCT-RAM

EMS CARD

■ USER EXPANDABLE TO 2MB USINGIMB DRAMS • CON-
FORMS FULLY TO LIM EMS 3.2 • RAM DISK SOFTWARE

MCT-AEMS $129.95

MCT-AEMS-256 USES 41256 DRAMS $129.95

MOT-EMS 8088 EMS CARD 2MB CAPACITY $129.95

EEMS CARD $149.95

■ EXPANDABLE TO 4MB USING 256K X 4 DRAMS IN
INCREMENTS OF 512K - CONFORMS TO LIM 4.0

MCT-EEMS

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464 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

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Chaos Manor
Mail

Jerry Pournelle answers questions about his column
and related computer topics

Expansion Solution

Dear Jerry,

Last November, I wrote to you to ask if
you knew of any way that I could add
extra slots to an AT in which the existing
expansion slots were already full. You
replied that you did not know of any
available commercial equipment for this.
I got similar replies from other sources,
as well.

You might be interested to hear how I
have solved this problem. An inquiry to
Jameco brought the information that the
company has an extender card/slot kit,
catalog number PCL755C. It consists of
a card that plugs into a 16-bit slot and is
connected to a second card by three plug-
in ribbon cables. The second card has
one 16-bit and two 8-bit slots. By simply
adding another edge connector, it can
easily have a total of two 8-bit and two
16-bit slots. Power for the additional
slots can come from the main computer
(via the ribbon cables) or from an exter-
nal source (-1-5 and -1-12 volts).

I bought this extender kit, along with
an XT flip-top cabinet and an XT power
supply. The second extender board (the
one with the additional slots) mounts eas-
ily in the XT cabinet. I only had to drill
six mounting holes and mount the ex-
tender board on brass standoffs that were
provided with the cabinet, instead of
using its own plastic mounting standoffs.
The -1-5- and -I- 12-V cables from the XT
power supply had to be extended to reach
the power connector on the extender
board. The —5- and —12-V (low-cur-
rent) supplies still come from the main
computer. The +5- and -I- 12-V supplies
from the main computer to the extender
are disconnected by removing two fuses
on the extender board that plugs into the
computer.

I removed one 8-bit card (which was in
a 16-bit slot) from the main computer and
replaced it with the first extender board.
This card was then put into one of the 8-
bit slots in the XT case. I used another
slot for a scanner, and I now have two
spare 16-bit slots. As soon as I can afford
it, I intend to mount a backup tape drive
and its controller in the XT cabinet.

The ribbon cables between the two
cabinets probably would radiate RFI in
excess of FCC requirements. Although
this did not bother any electronic equip-
ment in my house, and I am well away
from any other houses, I provided some
shielding. To do this, I fabricated a metal
trough that bolts to both cabinets and
fully encloses the cables. A crude solu-
tion would be to use grounded aluminum
foil.

The extender card kit is rather expen-
sive, especially considering that it is
made in Taiwan. It costs $99.95 plus
freight. The total cost was about $220,
including freight, extra connectors, and
so on. For this, however, I have been able
to add a scanner. I will be able to add an
internal tape backup (which is less ex-
pensive than an external one) and will
still have a spare slot left.

L. D. Thomas
Georgetown, DE

Thanks for letting us know! — Jerry

Adding Up Bytes

Dear Jerry,

I am writing you to explain the dis-
crepancies that you found with the re-
ports of XTree and the Norton Com-
mander (Computing at Chaos Manor,
February).

What you got is not very odd. The total
number of files is right: CHKDSK re-
ports three hidden files, one of which is
the Volume Label (if you do some peek-
ing around with the Norton Utilities,
you'll find it stored in your root directory
like any file; it just has a special attribute
bit set) , and the 10 . S YS and MSDOS . S YS
system files. Of these three "files,"
XTree (correctly) counts just the last
two. Add two to the 1662 "user files"
that CHKDSK reports, and you have the
1664 that XTree reports.

Note that all the figures the Norton
Commander gives you for total directory
space are exact multiples of your cluster
size (2048 bytes). That is all the space al-
located to your files, including the slack
area at the end of each file. On the other
hand, when you select some files, the

Norton Commander adds their "logical"
^ length, without the slack. If you run File-
Size in your directory, it will give you
both figures. So, your small directory
contains three files that use five clusters,
even though part of that space (10,240 -
6128 bytes) is wasted.

The differences in total drive size can
also be explained by considering that you
could take 1 MB = 1,000,000 instead of
the correct value: 2^° = 1,048,576 bytes.

Neither XTree nor the Norton Com-
mander is wrong; they just do different
computations.

Gino Lucrezi
L'Aquila, Italy

I confess that I get lazy sometimes in a
case like this, since I know I can count on
a reader to explain what's going on.
Thanks!— JcTTy

Locating Genius

Dear Jerry,

I just read your comments on Kun
Yung Enterprise's Genius Genitizer
(Computing at Chaos Manor, August).

I found a U.S. address for KYE Inter-
national in a database called COMPLIB
on CompuServe. That's where I find the
names, addresses, and telephone num-
bers of most manufacturers. KYE Inter-
national can be reached at 12675 Colony
St., China. CA 91710, (800) 456-7593
or (714) 590-3940; fax: (714) 590-1231;
BBS: (714) 590-3485.

Andre Mallette
St. -Leonard, Quebec, Canada

Thanks. Of course, we good BIX users
don 't use CompuServe, but. . . .

I did manage to make contact with the
company eventually, and the people there
say they 'II put the U. S. address in their
new stuff. —Jerry ■

Jerry Pournelle holds a doctorate in psy-
chology and is a science fiction writer
who also earns a comfortable living writ-
ing about computers present and future.
He can be reached do BYTE, One Phoe-
nix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458,
or on BIX as "jerryp. "

NOVEMBER 1990 "BYTE 465

Pri nt Qu eue

Hugh Kenner

Stomping the Nasties

Afield guide through the jungle
of computer invaders

Viruses— There Are No Such Things! That statement ap-
peared in print some three years ago. But there are so
such things, as the fracas at InterNet/ARPANET dem-
onstrated late in 1988. That was when, coast to coast, 6200 ma-
chines got immobilized by what seems to have been a prank that
outran control.

But what, me worry? I sit tight at my home machine. Well,
no, you needn't worry, not at all, provided only (1) your ma-
chine has no modem link to the outer world; (2) you never share
floppy disks with anyone; (3) you run no software save what
you've written yourself. So runs the considered opinion of John
McAfee, coauthor (with reporter Colin Haynes) of Computer
Viruses, Worms, Data Diddlers, Killer Programs, and Other
Threats to Your System (St. Martin's Press, 1989, $16.95).

McAfee is founding chairman of the Computer Virus Indus-
try Association, which logged over 300,000 virus infections in
1989 alone. And how many
went unreported? That's any-
one's guess. Users are ready
to blame malfunctions on,
oh, operator error. It's when
linked machines malfunction
identically that suspicion be-
gins to stir. And when suspi-
cion stirs in Silicon Valley, it
often prompts a call to John
McAfee, who climbs into a
motor home that is loaded
with virus-catching equip-
ment and steers toward the
new client's parking lot.

Those of us who lack occa-
sion to call on McAfee can
profitably read his book. It
does the great service of help-
ing us understand what there
is to worry about. And vi-
ruses do offer plenty of rea-
sons to worry.

Like "hacker," "virus" is
a term misused to the point of
utter confusion. First, we are
not talking about the antics of
crackers, who infiltrate sys-
tems to filch credit-card num-
bers or just leave word that
they called. We are talking
about a piece of code. Not just
such a piece of code as is
meant, say, to install an illicit

account in a certain bank's system and gently transfer funds to
it. That's a worm. And not just something meant to go berserk
on a preset date. That's a logic bomb. (When a Maryland li-
brary withheld payment for a bug-riddled system, it discovered
that the supplier had installed a logic bomb: "Pay up, or your
data vanishes!" Luckily, it was located before it went active.)
And not just malign software disguised as something interest-
ing. That's a Trojan horse.

No, a bona fide virus may resemble any of the above, but it
has one further and deadly capability. It replicates. That means
a single copy can spawn many thousands on many thousand ma-
chines. And how does that happen?

Well, somehow or other you've acquired a floppy disk with a
virus embedded in one program (its host). Its first act is to sepa-
rate from its host and make copies of itself that go hunting
through your directories for other hosts they can live in. Any

new floppy disk you install
will be likewise searched;
eventually, the virus will be
lodged in a program you'll in
all innocence pass on to a
friend. . .and so on.

Which so far amounts to
very little, save that increas-
ingly numerous programs
grow bigger by a few bytes.
That was all the famous Inter-
Net virus was meant to do:
just spread itself about, to the
glee of its perpetrator. Unfor-
tunately, it contained a mild
coding error. It should have
kept clear of programs it had
already infected. It didn't;
soon, 6200 interlinked ma-
chines were busy at nothing
save jamming one another till
CPUs saturated and system
after system died. (Estimated
total damage in lost access
time and wasted work: S98
million.)

McAfee offers fascinating
detail on how a virus rolls up
its sleeves. Thus, a few, like
the Pakistani Brain— toward
which virus-catchers genu-
flect respectfully— concen-
trate on the boot sector, the
handful of bytes that load the

466 BYTE' NOVEMBER 1990

ILLUSTRATION: ANNIE LUNSFORD © 1990

operating system. They move that to a sector they flag "unus-
able," and then replace it with a customized boot sector that
will be in control the next time the machine is turned on.

From now on, Darth Vader is running your machine, on the
lookout for opportunities. He can intercept any attempt to mod-
ify the boot sector. And if you try to check the boot sector,
why, he shows you the clean original he first stashed away! And
every disk placed in the computer becomes infected instantly.
"In some corporations, boot sector viruses have spread to a
thousand computers in less than a week," says McAfee. The
Pakistani Brain itself "rampaged through the newsroom and
bureaus of the Providence Journal," apparently after one em-
ployee put an infected disk in a home computer.

And so what? Well, the Pakistani Brain is by no means as
innocent as the InterNet virus was intended to be. It asks for
ransom. Nonpayers find files trashed and systems crashing. No
one knows how many copies lie dormant here and there. It was
spread from Pakistan on disks with pirated copies of WordStar
and Lotus 1-2-3, sold at a fraction of the U.S. makers' prices.
The author's motive? Apparently, irritation when programs he
himself had written were pirated.

So just avoid bootleg copies? Alas, you cannot be sure. Pro-
grams routinely go out for beta testing— massive usage, to find
bugs— and who knows what beta testers may have done to the
disks they send back? Or not know they have done? An inno-
cent beta tester returned to a Seattle firm a disk he'd worked
with on a Macintosh he didn't know was infected. Soon, thou-
sands of distributed copies were carrying disease. (The firm-
Aldus— acted responsibly, at heavy cost.) So you'll understand
the panic of the man whose newsletter shouted Viruses— There
Are No Such Things. His business was selling public domain
software on disks. Public domain? That's distributed via multi-
ple acts of copying. Who knows who's been meddling with it en
route?

And who are these meddlers? In an interview I've read else-
where, McAfee said he had no idea, except that some of them
were pretty smart programmers. The more lurid ideas in the
book he has cosigned we may perhaps ascribe to his collabora-
tor, who likes phrases like "operating on the dark side." Chap-
ter 6, "A Walk on the Dark Side of a Subculture," presents
isolates who shun "conventional human contact," silicon being
so much more dependable. One of them, who'd broken into
Digital Equipment's system, shed tears on being accused of
"harming a computer." Couple a sensibility like that with "a
real or imagined grudge against big business, the government,
or the computer community establishment as a whole," and you
have (it says here) such a psyche as shoots at random into
crowds.

OK, let's buy that to go on with. My problem with all such
scenarios is that, accurate or not, they set adrenaline point-
lessly flowing. Better to gaze calmly at such gems as the list, on
pages 89-91, of just under 400 common passwords. That list
was embedded in the InterNet virus, which it served as a skele-
ton key: "Over 90% of all large systems" have "at least one
user" whose password it exhibits. Be sure that key fits no lock
of yours. (Some samples: Dog, Batman, Rolex, Carmen,
Wisconsin. . . .)

Or ponder the fact that you're reading this review (and I hope

T/z^re are

three types of antiviral
products, all useful,
none totally safe.

will read the book). But you're a computer-literate reader of
BYTE. And administrators and law enforcers are apt to be so
far from computerdom they either can't begin to comprehend
what's been done wrong or else just panic blindly. When PCs at
Lehigh University were infected in 1987, Lehigh fired the pro-
grammer who'd identified the virus and written an antidote. (If
he knew so much, maybe he planted it in the first place?)

Or read the section on antiviral products and how they work.
There are three main types, all useful, none totally safe. One
type tries to keep viruses out, and it can be confused by things
programs do normally; thus, it can emit so many false alarms
you stop paying attention. Also, it's vulnerable to the boot sec-
tor strategy, which has taken effect before the antiviral pro-
gram—or anything else— is loaded.

A second type tries to find and defuse viruses as they arrive;
best, by keeping a "snapshot" of the system status when it's
installed and thereafter watching for ominous variations. A
third type looks for and cleans up viruses already present; its
weakness is that it needs constant updating to insert the finger-
prints as new strains get identified.

For a 50-page chapter on 73 known PC viruses— what they
do, how to find them, how to zap them— try Richard Levin's
Computer Virus Handbook (McGraw-Hill, 1990, S24.95).
This big book is meant for serious computer users; the McAfee-
Haynes volume trolls for curious bystanders as well.

If you don't feel like paying S16.95 for McAfee-Haynes, you
can get it free with a program called Virucide (from Parsons
Technology, 375 Collins Rd. NE, Cedar Rapids, lA 52402,
(319) 395-9626). Although Virucide is not mentioned in the
book. Parsons assures us that McAfee had a hand in it. From
the fact that an updating policy is announced, I'll guess that it's
mainly type 3 . (The manual keeps a very low profile and digs
itself the usual foxhole: No Warranty of Any Kind.)

Well, Virucide installs easily, runs fast, and tells me that my
"preowned" 386 system shows no trace of a virus in any of
some 20 megabytes of preowned software. That's a comfort,
even though I'm left unsure how much reassurance it may
really offer. Next? Well, I'll, yes, run Virucide periodically.
And reflect that I can never hope to be in what medical virolo-
gists call a sterile environment. ■

Hugh Kenner is a professor of English at Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity. He writes for publications ranging from the New York
Times to Art & Antiques. His recent books include Mazes and
Historical Fictions. He can be contacted on BIX as "hkenner. "

Your questions and comments are welcome. Write to: Editor,
BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterborough, NH 03458.

NOVEMBER 1990 • B Y T E 467

STOP BIT ■ Laurens R. Schwartz

y Promises, Promises

What's in a warranty?
Most of the time,
not much

When computers first became
commercially available,
they were bundled with soft-
ware and sometimes mainte-
nance agreements. Were those sales con-
sidered "sales of goods" (and therefore
under the purview of the Uniform Com-
mercial Code), or were they "sales of
services," controlled by contracts and
common law? Was software an intangible
or a product? Was a maintenance agree-
ment part of a sales transaction or a ser-
vice arrangement?

This is just the kind of meaty debate
that lawyers who know nothing about
technology love. They held tax-deduct-
ible meetings in exotic locations, filed
lawsuits, and issued proposals. After the
expenditure of millions of dollars, it was
decided that sometimes a system is a sale
of goods, and sometimes it isn't; it all
depends.

With those issues clarified, let's move
on to how goods are sold. When a sales-
person makes promises of vectors per
second or immediate rendering, are his
or her words legally binding? In most in-
stances, the law will find that whatever a
salesperson says is precatory. That word
would be better spelled predalory, but
precatory is an aspect of caveat emptor—
let the buyer beware. A reasonable person
should know that the Brooklyn Bridge is

Stop Bit is an open forum for informed
opinion on topics related to personal com-
puting. The opinions expressed are those of
the author and not necessarily those of
BYTE or its staff. Your contributions and
comments are welcome. Write to: Editor,
BYTE, One Phoenix Mill Lane, Peterbor-
ough, NH 03458.

not for sale and that if it is, it needs a lot of
repair work and a coat of paint.

On the other hand, what a salesperson
says is sometimes considered a warranty,
even though the first thing you see when
you unbox a new system is a piece of
paper saying you have no warranties ex-
cept for a limited 90-day or one-year
warranty. That limited warranty typical-
ly says that if you don't follow certain
conditions, such as returning the equip-
ment in its original packaging, the war-
ranty is off. Of course, computers and
peripherals are packaged in boxes 20
times their size, with foam rubber in-
serts, molded plastic sidings, and mil-
lions of foam peanuts. Saving the pack-
aging eventually means renting space in
a warehouse.

The limited warranty then says that
the company will replace the failed com-
ponent with a new one or a used one, at
its discretion. This is known as the law of
refurbishment . One new twist to the law
of refurbishment is that used equipment
is sometimes refurbished and resold as
new. Recycling used equipment has even
spawned its own specialists: repackagers
who clean equipment, spray it with that
smells-like-new odor, rewrap cables in
plastic bags, re-shrink-wrap manuals,
iron out wrinkles in boxes, and put in
blank registration forms. Now you know
why they make you return equipment in
its original wrappings.

Warranties are covered primarily by
the Uniform Commercial Code. The
word "uniform" is used to throw off non-
lawyers so that they're forced to hire law-
yers who understand that uniform means
one thing to the public and another to
lawyers. This code is not uniform, hav-
ing been adopted by some of our states
with variations. In situations such as
this, lawyers use the phrase "the general
rule is." The general rule is that just
about every warranty (and remedy) can
be disclaimed by a seller if the disclaimer
is printed in VERY BIG TYPE.

But suppose a salesperson tells you

that a system is capable of performing in
a certain manner, and you purchase it re-
lying on that statement. "You later find
that the system does everything from
barking like a seal to waking you up in
the morning, but it cannot do that one
thing that you bought it for. Then you
might have a case for a breach of warran-
ty of fitness for a particular purpose. Of
course, getting a judge to pronounce your
victory will probably cost you more than
the system did.

Then there's the law of disappearing
days. Suppose you have a 90-day warran-
ty and you didn't purchase a service plan.
The machine breaks down on the tenth
day. It takes you four days to retrieve all
the foam peanuts, three days to repack
the equipment, and 16 days to obtain
your authorized return number. Sending
the machine back using a ground service
will take four to five business days but
will cost only a few dollars, or you can
use an express service that will deliver
the machine in a day or two for what it
cost you to purchase the equipment. In-
evitably, you'll get the machine back one
day after the warranty has expired.

A decent manufacturer (or dealer, or
mail-order house) will extend the war-
ranty period to take into account when
the machine failed and when it was
returned repaired. Some states require
the extension. But guess what? In most
cases, the burden of an extension is on
the purchaser. In other words, you are
providing yourself with your own war-
ranties.

That's what democracy is all about: If
those manufacturers won't give you a
warranty, you are free to pay for one. ■

Laurens R. Schwartz is a New York attor-
ney and computer consultant. He is the
author of numerous articles and books on
technology, including the Computer Law
Forms Handbook (Clark Boardman Co.)
and the forthcoming Computer Art Book
(W. W. Norton). He can be reached on
BIX do "editors. "

468 BYTE- NOVEMBER 1990

ILLUSTRATION: KATHERINE MAHONEY © 1990

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